A Tale of Grin: Prelude
by GrinWolf
Summary: My first story on Fan Fiction. This story's about a very peculiar wolf: Grin. He has to deal with some ghostly phantoms of his past, present dangers and whatever else fate decides to throw on him... (I do not own any Alpha and Omega Characters, i own only plot and OCs)
1. To Life

**Hello everybody on FanFiction, this is GrinWolf, and this is my first story,  
so read, enjoy, and if you wanna rewiev, any KIND of advice is welcome!**

**Chapter 1: To Life**

"AAAAAAAAAAAAARGH" echoed loudly in the early morning air.

Everybody in the neighborhood knew what it means… Finally the time has come. Katherine, an alpha wolf, was pregnant and about to go into labour. Other twinging screams can be heared into the warm, yet still cool air of a end summer morning. It was possible to see two blurs dashing through the thick forest that surrounded Katherine's den, hiding almost totally its entrance . Infact she has been located there to give her more safety and protection from any dangers to her pregnancy and, of course, to her pups.

Things in that pack become harder after she come for aid. Around there the food was exiguous, the pack was already starving, and then, they founded themselves to have another mouth to be feeded . For this reason, a lot of wolves in the pack frowned upon her staying there and "stealing" their food from their mouths. But head alpha wolves were clear about that…she would stay there until she was able to walk and take care of her pups. They found her in a pretty bad situation. She was badly wounded and, despite the delicate situation they were in, they took the decision to help her through that. But they're the only ones who decided to help her. Other wolves decided to ignore her, sawing her as the reason that would lead them to die, due to lack of food, but they also probably thought whoever had reduced her to that condition was still out there, searching for her to accomplish the kill, and almost all were scared to die murdered by this clearly ruthless and insane wolf. In short time, they got along very well, maybe because they keep saying she looked and acted very similar to their lost daughter.

The alpha leader wolves of this pack, Aura and Helios, were running at their top speed to Katherine's den, ready to help her through the labour. When they arrived, Aura told Helios to go get some water to the near pond, while she gets in the den and starts to assist Katherine.  
"Oh finally you're he-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH" She managed to yell a scream that threatened to split her ears in half if Aura was closer. Aura ran over her and begin to check if everything was ok. She took note of the amount of blood that was on the floor, due to the labour, and begin to comfort her.

"Oh dear, you have to breath deeply, and when i tell you, you have to push strongly, ok?" She said with a calm, soothing but firm voice, and Katherine tried to nod, but the unbearable pain was forcing her body to twist in unnatural manners.

She was trying hard to keep her head up, to avoid the view of what was happening to her, frightened by faint. She rememberd then Aura's word to keep breathing deeply, and after, when she said, Katherine pushed with all her leftover strenght. She kept pushing, and pushing, until she felt somehow light, both physically and mentally… She was on the verge of passing out due to tremendous effort, but something happened that kept her wide awake.

A scream, followed by weeping.

She turned to Aura to see her smiling widely and proudly said: "It's a boy, and he's healty…what do you want more from life? Long time since I've been present at life's miracle, and every time I see it, it makes me feel like it was the first time".

Katherine's eyes were pouring down tears of joy like waterfalls. Never once she imagined she would become a mother.  
She asked to Aura with a whisper , exhausted from the previous session, but with a smile that filled all her face:

" Can i see my baby boy?"

"Of course you can, honey" She answered.  
Then Aura put the weeping newborn beside his mother and she begin to lick him all over to clean him, then he began to nibble one of her breast and starting to nurse. Katherine noticed that in all this time a smile had never left his face, and for this reason he thought a good and fit name for him: she wanted to call him Grin.

Aura began to speak to her: "So, have you already thought about a name for him yet?"

"Yeah" Katherine said "But I just came to a name that I think it's gonna fit him like a glove: what do you think about… Grin?"she asked to Aura.  
Aura noticed his attitude, too, and answered "I think there couldn't be a best name for him" with a smile.

Then they observed him stopping nurse, emitting a squeaky, cute yawn, curling into a tiny ball and drifted to sleep. Katherine's motherly instinct kicked in, and she curled his tail over him to keep him as warm as possible.

Afterward, Aura's smile altered into a frown. She forgot about something, but she didn't figured it out until it hit her like a brick.

Here eyes widened for the realization: her husband was missing.

She didn't want to worry Katherine more, so she gave her apologies, saying that she surely was tired and wanted to rest, and she was leaving. After Katherine thanked her for her support and bid their farewells to each other, Aura went out Katherine's den.

When she was padding to her den, determined to find Helios, she saw something that scarred her for the rest of her wretched days.

She saw a lifeless wolf's body , his shoulders deeply covered with deep wounds and scratches, a pool of blood underneath him, his forelegs flexed in a unnatural manner.

Looking closer, she recognized him. His soulmate was lying lifeless on the ground.

Tears were deeply forming in her eyes ,ready to leave her eyes to reach the ground in no time. She started sobbing into the breathless wolf's fur, crying . She felt her heart torn into million of little pieces that melt away like sand trown into the sea. She couldn't breath anymore, the sorrow, the ache was too strong to be beared. Her eyes weren't anymore the same: the death of someone beloved can really steal the fire, the passion, the will to live from your soul.

She stayed there, unable to do anything, only able to sit near his husband's empty shell.

Suddenly, she saw a wolf shape blurring through some nearby bushes, but she had no time to react to his fatal blow. Within a few seconds, she found herself gasping for air,blood pouring from a a large gash in her neck, but she could finally see who did all this, who killed her mate, who was threatening the safety of their pack, who wants revenge.  
In her final moments she managed to yell at top of her lungs:  
"YOU…!"She said in a hatred tone" …You will pay for what you've done… In this life or in another!" Then her eyes rolled back, passing out and stopping breathing.

The tan-brownish wolf stood high, licking and tasting the blood on his paw with a devious smile on his face. "How come blood tastes so well…Especially when head alphas are my quarry?" He thought to himself, chuckling while savouring the taste, the sick smile never leaving the side of his face. But suddenly, with a swift motion, he slapped himself on his face.  
"Stay focused, Waylon, you're gonna taste a blood that probably is the sweetest of all… the one that belongs to the woman that betrayed you" His sick smile, in an unnatural way, widened even more.

"I'm coming home, my dear love…" He started humming, heading to the hidden den.

**Yeah,i know, i have to improve a lot... However, i think sometimes i'm gonna change or get some period longer... and if you identify some grammar or syntax error, please report them to me... I would fix them immediately!**


	2. Memories To Forget

**Here's the second chapter... Read, Enjoy, Review!**

**Chapter 2: Memories to forget**

After Aura's farewell, Katherine really needed to use a bit rest. After all, the act of giving birth really stresses your body, and nothing was better than fall into a deep slumber to recover lost energies. She slowly rest her head on her paws, trying to curl up his newborn son to keep him warm as possible and safe. He somehow recognized her, although his eyes weren't opened yet, and squeaked happily, his face showing a cute, permanent smile, that never left his face, not even during sleep. Looking at this, his mother couldn't help but smile, and they both drifted to sleep.

Unaware of the imminent danger approaching speedily to their den.

"I'm finally home,darling!" A schizophrenic-toned voice shouted not far away from den's entrance.

Katherine was in a sort of trance, what usually happens to who stays between sleep and wakefulness, so she didn't recognize at first the voice, but suddenly she wanted to evaporate and dissipate herself through the air of the den. She could hear claws tapping repeatedly the ground, in effort to get as fast as possible to close any escape ways to his designated victims. Katherine, at this point, couldn't do anything but prepare herself pulling out every ounce of strenght left and fight against him.

He, who once loved and with whom wanted to spent the rest of her life, with whom she conceive a child, was devoured inside by a repulsive and horrifying monster, a demon, his only purpose to spread chaos and suffering in every corner of the Earth. How could she have been so blind to not notice any strange behavior, any sign of his mental madness… Until he truly showed his real face, when he beat her so hard to find herself wandering between life and death, trying to escape his blood-lusted wrath, she found herself running, pregnant, into a dense forest, aiming to reach anybody who could help her. She was lucky to find this pack, to find some such caring people like Aura and Helios. But seemed, in the end, she ran out of luck.

That voracious monster of his husband, Waylon, stand there, with a creepy smile written all over his face, determined to fulfill what he had begun. He spoke first  
"So… long time no see, huh? How did you do?" trying to act innocent.

Katherine, determined to protect his pup at cost of her life from a horrible fate, wanted to making him pay for all the awful things she endured , her motherly instinct kicking in and gave her a sort of enhancement. Her fur begin to wristle in a way that she never had seen before, drool begin to pour from her massive sharp teeth, a low pitched growl coming from her throat, her claws unsheated. She rarely acted like that, unless she was being forced to. Although she's an Alpha, she always hoped for conflicts's resolution through diplomatic ways and not through force and war. But now she had no options.

Engulfed by her momentary rage, she yelled: "What do you want more from me?! It wasn't enough to scar me for the rest of my days?! I want you give you a last chance: leave NOW and never get back, because...i won't be responsible of my actions any more!" She said last part so angrily that her speech seemed more a growl than a intimation.

Her husband was temporarily taken aback from her sudden outburst, but after a moment his mouth flowed in a momentary wicked laugh. But he stopped abruptly, regained his composure and spoke: "You've never imagined how I miss you… Your warmness, your soft fur, your silken voice…and most important of all, i missed that sweet, warm, sinful taste of blood of yours!" Then he began to encircle her,licking his lips, as if he were savoring in advance her blood.

He continued speaking while circling her: "Why didn't you just let me finish what i started? Is it too much to ask you this?" Then he noticed something little beneath her, a little body of a wolf. This was his perfect occasion to take the lead. So he finally decided to act: he pretended to jump, so she prepared herself to counter a flying attack, but instead he slided near her and grabbed something by the scruff.

When she finally saw what he grabbed, he didn't realize he had done his greatest mistake: this action has unleashed in her a murderous rampage.

Never separate a puppy from its mother, especially during its first days of life.

During his escape attempt with the pup, with his son, Waylon can barely reach few meters outside her hidden den, only to be slashed fiercely by a massive paw in both his hind legs. The force was so intense that it was possible to hear a loud and brute snap in the place where her paw hit his forelegs, and he immediately felt his bones crushed, along with its neighboring tissues and nerves. When he hit the ground, he yelped so loudly in the quiet, silent morning air that his voice was reverberating like a thunder during a storm. He, during the fall, let go the newborn's weeping body, but he turned to see her.

Katherine stand behind him with a blank face, she begin walking and stomping over him, and causing him other severe fractures all over his body, trying to reach her sobbing baby. She started soothing him  
"Shhh, baby boy, mom is here", she said,pick him by his scruff quickly and putting him in the den.

Then she returned outside, looking with the same expressionless face at his husband's mangled body trying to crawl away from her, she stopped him grabbing by his tail, dragging him until she was with him on the edge of a nearby cliff.

He begin to laugh, sickly, saying: "So, as you can see we're not so different… Look closely what you did to me and tell me… don't you feel mighty, knowing how have you crushed a life with a so small effort? Doesn't it seem great to you? You finally make me proud of you!" He then coughed some blood, due to his serious internal breakages.

Hearing these words, she recuperated her will, but she spit her last words to him, full of hatred:  
"Don't dare you to ever, EVER, compare me to you again. You are a SICK, DEVIOUS devil that doesn't deserve to stay and inhabit the Earth anymore. So i'm gonna put an end to your despicable life… and i sincerely hope that hell won't spit you up again in this world!"

After she said that, She threw Waylon into a deep, neverending ravine nearby her den.

Finally, the worst was over.

She finally have a chance to rest and relax after a very long and painful morning. She came back in her den and cuddled near his newborn son, but something was not right…

At this time of the morning she could hear very well Alpha leaders assigning various tasks to their alphas in the main ground, but something about that deafening silence was…really frightening.


	3. Two Colours, One Soul

**Here again, there's third chapter! I admit it, i'm impressed too, i wrote three chapters in 2 days, didn't expect story would flow like a waterfall!**  
**Anyway, remember to read and rewiev, please!**

**Chapter 3: Two colors, one soul**

A couple of days passed from the unpleasant encounter. Wolves of the pack had found Alpha Leader's lifeless bodies, and gave them honor they deserved, they celebrated a funeral, and then burying them in cemetery area. That situation had not only left scars in her heart, in her soul , but it caused the death of the people that used to lead the pack, the only people who cared for her unconditionally. She wanted to do honor to their memory, so she decided to propose herself as the new Alpha leader of the pack. She wanted to do this for them, in repayment for have shown her hospitality and understanding , despite all odds.

It has passed a week since she got there, things have taken place so rapidly, she was going to take her responsabilities, splitting herself between her maternal duties and pack ones.

She tried to do whatever was in her possibilities to raise pack's situation, but it seemed that, everytime she tried something, things got worse instead of getting better. Group's opinion didn't help very well: she appreciated both constructive and destructive opinions, but it really was a continuous lament. The only thing that truly made her get through the day was the relief to embrace his newborn son, Grin. When she used to approach the den in the early afternoon, damn tired after completing a part of her obligations, waves of a newfound energy pulsed through her body only just seeing his little body laying surrounded by a warm coat of leaves to keep his body heat constant. She couldn't help but smile at the sight and, as if it were on purpose, he began to weep, maybe identifying his mother's presence, and trying to communicate her something.

She slowly cuddled around him, and Grin begin to nurse her breast, maybe a little to greedily.  
"Ouch" exclaimed Katherine, a little surprised by his hunger , "Are we hungry, huh?" she managed to say with a smile.

She take a look very carefully to his son.

He has a brown-tawny vaporous fur with some white shades across all of his fur, just like his tips of the ears, tips of his paws, and has a completely white tail except for his tail tip.

She connected every feature of his fur: Katherine's fur was black coloured, with a white-greish mask that shaded from white at the top to a dark greish pattern at base of her mouth, tips of her ears white coloured, just like her paw tips and her rear legs, her tail was black except for her white tip. Here yes were a shining petroleum green, with some yellowish sectors inside.

Grin took a lot from her husband's fur: almost all of his fur was exactly like its, with the only exception that Waylon didn't have a white in his tail at all.

The thing that she was mostly excited about was the eye opening: she was pretty anxious to know what color his eyes were. She was almost sure he was going to inherit her eyes 's colour. She just had to wait some time to know the almost certain truth.

Seconds after seconds, minutes after minutes, nine days passed, doing this routine every day, until opening time finally come.

In a cold autumn morning, finally he had opened his eyes to finally take a look of the world.

He wake up very early in the morning, eager to want to look at the place where he lived, and its surroundings. Driven by curiosity, he tried to sneak out out the den silently, but he stomped involuntarily on a fallen dead leaf, producing a slight sound.

He froze on the spot. He gritted his teeth and closed his eyes, hoping that his mom won't wake up.

After a few moments of silence, he tried to continue his quiet escape, but was startled and stopped by his mother's voice.  
"Ahem…Where do you think you're going, Grin?" She said, thinking it was another of his blind attempts to go out. He seemed to have indeed a brisk personality, or maybe was just the age. He tried some attempts to exit from den ,although he had not opened his eyes yet, so this wasn't the first time he tried to escape. Katherine, slightly angry tone, said to him:"You know the rules, when you're gonna open your eyes, we're gonna get outsid…-" She suddenly stopped talking, because she saw her son turning his head to her and LOOKING at her straight in her eyes with HIS EYES.

Tears started to form in her eyes. Finally his son opened his eyes. But soon she realized it happened something whose chances are one in a million…Even less.

He…is affected by heterochromia …he has two eyes of two different colours.

One was like hers, was a brilliant petroleum green with some yellowish shades inside, but the other one was reddish-brown… remembered her the twisting, sick insanity of her husband.

She knew that in some packs this condition was regarded as a witchcraft, and if recognized, the subject could be processed and condemned to a unhappy doom: be framed, or, even worst, immediate death.

She just hoped not to have happened in a pack like that. She didn't want to be the cause of the death of her son. So she wanted to hide its peculiar characteristic until it was possible, but, like every other mom, didn't want to alarm his son about possible dangers. She was thinking of every way to keep his son out of troubles, but nothing came to her at moment, so she decided to pretend that nothing was bothering her.

She started to speak: "Oh, dear, it's amazing!... You finally opened your eyes,didn't you?"  
He stood proudly, saying with a smile: "Yes mom, i did, but…" His face suddenly saddened, knowing that he had disobeyed "… i tried to walk as quietly as possible because i didn't want to wake you up, i promise!"

That gave Katherine an idea: She could have the time to appoint a successor to her position, she could abandon this pack with her beloved son, never coming back, and during this time she didn't need to worry about his son, he's gonna be in detention for...hmm...a week for his disobedience, just long enough to accomplish her goal.

"Oh i don't think so, boy… you're gonna to postpone your view of outside world for… lemme think... one week is fair enough… you're grounded!" She shouted, but she couldn't hide her fear tears, that were pouring down her face.

"OOOOOOW, Mom, why you have to do this? You know that i'm really freaking out to se-" He started to say but he stopped while being embraced by her mom, her tears slowly leaving her eyes and moisting his fur.

"Mom…why are you crying?" He stated, in a worried tone.

"Hmm?" answered Katherine. She clearly couldn't reveal her fears to his son, so she kept pretending that nothing was bothering her. "Oh, got something in my eyes, sorry…But remember son: punishments are not always bad things...it's only another way to say that I care about you"

Then her son started smiling, his grin being that sun that illuminates her darkest days. And, of course, she couldn't help but smile, too.

When everything throw you down, you cannot find better comfort in a gesture of affection of one who really cares about you.

**Will she be able to keep safe his son from eyes of the others?  
Find out in the next chapters!**


	4. Daemon

**Hello again, here's GrinWolf, and here's the 4th chapter...Remember, read, enjoy, and review, please**

**I'd really love to know what do you think this far, although isn't very long yet.**

**Chapter 4: Daemon**

Two days have passed since Grin was put in detention. Climate was completely changing during these days. Nothing could be remembered about mild temperature of Grin's birthday.

Dry, fallen leaves fluttered into a new chilly autumnal morning, meeting often the ground and being dragged by the impetuous wind. From den's entrance, it was possible to see tree's brittle branches bending to gale's force, trying in vain to resist. A few sun rays penetrated into their hidden den, but they were no longer as hot as several days ago. But sun rays lasted for a few, short moments, hidden by some threatening dark clouds.

It was clear, summer was quickly giving way to autumn.

**KATHERINE's P.O.V.**

Katherine, although she didn't want to leave her den, taken by a sudden moment of laziness , she forced herself to get up, streching herself to relieve the stress of her muscles, and left quietly the den, not wanting to wake up her child. This morning was an important day for her: she was going to reveal her will to abdicate, her withdrawal from her Alpha Leader's position, but she was going to be inevitably forced into exile with all members of her family, and it was just what she was aiming at. She didn't want to imperil his son's life…so young, so small, yet menaced by a life threatening danger.

She speedily reached before all others the main ground, in which Alpha would have been assigned to their various tasks, putting herself on the high rock that was in the middle of the clearing. She, then, howled in the frigid autumn morning a gathering howl, not only for Alphas, but for all pack. Within a few minutes, all the pack was sitting in front of her.

About thirty wolves, murmuring to each other about why she wanted to gather all of them so early in the morning , but they were ready to listen anything she wanted to tell them and ready to do anything she wanted them to do.

They didn't trust her very much, due to the fact she presented in a very bad moment for the whole pack, adding another two mouths to be feed, and due her failures to raise pack conditions, so they were very nervous about she wanted to say them. But they have to admit one thing: she was the only one which wanted to take reins of pack in her hands, hoping in a betterment of their shape.

"SILENCE, please" she said with a loud tone of voice that made to finish the murmur.  
"I have an important announcement to make" She continued.  
Her heart was beating so fast, her breath visibily intensified. She was worried about what others would think about her leaving her position as Alpha Leader. She knew she could be accoused of treason, and being killed on the spot, but she hoped with all her heart to be, at least, sentenced to exile.

"I…i decided to give up my office as Alpha Leader."  
If before whispers were still audibile, that last sentence froze completely the crowd.

Then an enormous wave of words began to rain on her. Wolves in every direction spoke, but the gist of the question was still the same: what was the reason that led her to this decision?

At this point, she was scared.

Actually, she didn't want to tell them her true reason. She and her son could be both killed because of her son's genetic abnormality, and she didn't want to risk their lifes, or at least not that of her newborn son.

During all the commotion she squeezed her brain as possible, determined to find a solution that would lead her and her son out of there safe and sound.

Slowly, onlookers's voices faded into a silence, readiy to listen to her motivations.

"Got it!" She tought to herself, then she began to speak

"I came to this bitter decision, because i want to avenge the death of our previous Alpha Leader of this pack… the pain I feel is unbearable… I feel compelled to honor their memory for have accepted me into their pack, threating me like i were their daughter. I want to respect their kindness, to which i will always be grateful. I decided I want to find the responsible of their murder and make him or her suffer of a never ending pain!" She said with a composed, but angered tone.

Other wolves were surprised to see such a loyal attachment to their previous Alpha Leader, and they began to howl in approvation of her willingness.

"It's done" she thought "I'm gonna leave this place in three-four days, and they won't ever see my face again". She smiled, thinking about her near future.

Then she noticed something, wolves were pratically losing interest in her speech, and gradually the mob started turning their heads to what interested mostly them. She could see their facial expression changing from a joyful and happy to a mixed expression of fear and surprise.

Her first thought was that her almost certainly killed husband was still alive, but she proved to be horribly wrong.

**GRIN's P.O.V.**

He woke up after a few minutes his mother left their den to fulfill her duties as a leader. He was put in detention for a week, and have already been two days. His punition was to not leave their den, due to his previous endeavour to leave den without his mother's supervision, trying to sneak out while his mother was sleeping.

"Great" he muttered under his breath "I was born two weeks ago, and i haven't seen anything of the outside world yet!" He stomped angrily one of his little paws on the ground.

"Mom can't continue to keep me confined here, and let me lose everything it's going on outside!"  
So he decided to break the rules, and venture outside "Of course, i don't think mom will know about my little walk outside…eheh" he thought, and so he approached den's entrance. When he took a look outside, his eyes widened.

"W-w-wow" he stuttered, unable to say anything else. He was completely charmed by the view.

When he stepped outside, a blow of wind started ruffling his fur, and send a chill to his spine.

He was eager to know, eager to explore whatever nature has created, grassy paths, mountains, hills, waterfalls.

He started to look at surroundings just out of his his right there was a deep fracture into the earth that lead to a endless, dark cliff. Straight before him stretched a vast thick forest whose trees seemed to take frightening expression, and whose branches were flogged by a dreadful current. At his left he could see various gradients that would lead to grassy plains. He decided to go left, driven by curiosity, and started to chase a raccoon, trying to have a bit of fun.

He started to run behind him, running through bushes and stepping into shallow ponds, giggling the entire time, aiming to get the raccoon and play with him. But running while watching exclusively the raccoon wasn't a good move, and soon he bumped into something, but wasn't something hard or sharp, on the contrary, was something soft, furry and warm.

"Ouch!" They both said at impact time. Grin, after the impact, closed his eyes moving forward but he didn't see a fallen branch, so he stumbled over it and fell down. In the meantime, Grin heard a male voice asking, deeply concerned : "Kyros, are you okay?" Then he heard groaning another voice, answering "Yeah, i suppose so, Cyril, ah, by the way, thanks for helping me".

Then Grin regained his balance, and standed up, only ending to notice he was in presence of other three wolves, slightly larger than him. He was a little bit scared, so he tried to withdraw slowly from their view, but they noticed him, and one of them start talking:

"Hey, what do we have here, a little wolf? Don't be afraid, we won't bite… at least I won't" He said chuckling, looking at his brother who was regaining his balance too and trying to stand up, and his brother answered at his look with a slight growl, rolling his eyes. "We're all brothers... my name's Cyril, his name" pointing to his brother "is Kyros, and her name" pointing to her sister, who blushed slightly "is Iris...We have been so called because behind our name there's a hidden meaning.

Cyril means regal, elegant.

Kyros means forward-looking, but also young.

Iris means Gods's messanger, but also flower and a eye portion.

I think I speak on behalf of all to say...nice to meet you, little one!

Oh, i'm sorry, i just kinda bore you, didn't I? So, why don't you tell something about you to us?"

"Ah…uhm… m-my name is Grin" he said with a smile, but when he spoke, they seemed caught by something.

They didn't pay much attention before, but something about him caught definitely their sight. His eyes were very characteristic: One was green, the other one was brown.

"Wow!" "Incredible!" "Unbelievable!" They said at the same time. Grin turned his head behind him, figuring that they had seen something behind him. "What" he said in a worried thing "What's going on?"

They started giggling, and Iris explained him the reason of their wonderment: "Oh, don't worry, we were simply admiring your marvelous eyes… I think they could mean that inside of you could coexist two different types of souls, don't you think?"

Grin, slightly confused, tilted his head said: "What…what is a soul?"

The trio smiled, but they understood that maybe he was really too young to comprehend such a difficolt concept. So they tried to shrug off him those concerns, and Cyril spoke again: "Why don't we play something togheter? Maybe it's me, but i don't wanna wast all day chatting, let's do something!"

They started an intense session of playing, playing a lot of games Grin had never heard of.

How could you blame him, he was a newborn pup after all. But he had never had so much fun in his entire life like now.  
Time passed by, game after game, chase after chase, but soon was time to return to their families. The wolf brothers wanted to introduce him to their parents, and they know they were participating in a sort of public meeting.

Grin didn't want to initially, but after being prayed by all three of them , he couldn't say no, and walked with them to the meeting place, nervous to meet new people, and hoping they were nice and kind like their sons.

Finally they arrived there, and he saw a large amount of wolves standing there and listening to a single wolf speaking on a high rock in the middle of the ground. He didn't care very much to the speech, knowing that if was going on something important, his mom would have told to him: after all, she was the Alpga Leader.

So they approached Cyril,Kuros and Iris's parents.

Iris speaks to a couple of wolves "Mom, Dad" they both turned their head to their sons "Look, there's someone i'd like to introduce you. His name is Grin, and he's a new member of this pack, he was born few days ago." They turned their head once more to see him, standing with a smile and said "Nice to meet-"

But, before he could finish the sentence, a scream coming from their mother's mouth directed to Grin, and it said:

"OH MY GOD…GOD, SAVE US FROM THIS! DEMON, GO AWAY!"

**OH, things seems to get better and better, don't you think? What will happen to them? STAY TUNED for next chapters!**


	5. Time To Say Goodbye

**Hello strangers, it's me again, with another chapter. Yeah, i know i'm repetitive, but i'd really want to know what your thoughts are about this story! Positive, negative critics, hints, suggestions, i welcome all of them, don't be shy...**

**As i've already said, i won't bite- Anyway, "bando alle ciance" and read this fifth chapter!**

**Chapter 5: Time To Say Goodbye**

**KATERINE's P.O.V.**

From her high rock point, she could clearly see what was happening. Thing that had aroused their fear was non other than her son. Her escape plan was irretrevably broken down and vanished, fading into nothingness. But now a new fear assailed her: she was uncertain about fate of her son.

"WITCHCRAFT!" "THIS IS MADNESS!" "DEVILRY!" Voices were thundering from all over the pack, frightened from something so… inusual.

She couldn't stay there, as they were beginning to circle and were beginning to show their teeth to her beloved son, so, moved by her motherly instinct, jumped down the high rock, trying to spend less time possible, every second was precious to determine life or death of the blood of his blood.

She tried to push through the smitten crowd, aiming to reach his son, but somehow she was pushed back by some of them, and she fell backward.  
"So, this is your son, isn't he?" Asked a male voice with an inquisitorial tone.  
"Of course he is, she's the only one to have given birth not long ago" Said another female voice.  
"Then, what's your excuse to have given birth to this…DEMON?" Said another male voice, saying the last word with such acidity, that seemed he was spitting poison.

After that last word, Katherine felt her blood beginning to boil, and she was becoming to feel enraged, but she knew to keep herself calm and think of some trick in order to save her son.

**GRIN's P.O.V.**

He was suddenly take aback from his friend's mother's fear scream, and he cowered in fear, tears starting to form in his two-coloured eyes. Looking around, he started noticing that every wolf was turning his attention to him, making him even more scared. Mixed expressions of fear, anger, anxiety, terror were painted on their faces. All because of him, it seemed. He noticed that other bigger pups were hiding behind their parents, being scared by him, and what mostly hurt him was that even his new friends seemed to begin to be afraid of him.

But he didn't really know why they were so scared. He hadn't done anything wrong. But he didn't know they thought he was contaminated by evil's seed, and his eyes rapresented his soul, half corrupt and half pure. This was their belief. But how could a newborn pup understand all these things? For him, they would seem incomprehensible concepts, so they thought that fastest way to get rid of him was… killing him.

"DEVIL!" They keep saying, "KILL HIM!" "FREE WORLD FROM HIS PRESENCE!"

These words kept playing in his head, "What's wrong with me" he was thinking "What did I do to deserve this?", then tears started to flow down his little cheeks, tears of sadness, but he still focused on what was happening around him. Wolves were slowly nearing him, baring their teeth out, ready to sentence him to suffer a horrible and premature death, killed by his own pack members.

But instinct was telling him to not surrender to this fate, and to run away, peraphs finding shelter into their hidden den , and so started running, aiming to reach his den safe and sound, hoping they wouldn't chase him.

He started run at his maximum speed, and luckily he reached it without any scratch, but somehow it seemed strange, because no one had actually chased him.

**KATHERINE's P.O.V.**

Katherine was a very strong and proud Alpha, she was very skilled in evasion maneuvers, and because of her ability, she was able to receive few wounds in battles, or even to get out unharmed. But this was too much even for her. Fighting alone against a whole pack was beyond everyone's possibility, especially when she have to deal not only with Alphas, but also Omegas. They may not be very skilled like Alphas, but, however they were wolves, they had claws and teeth with which they could hurt her.

After she regained her stability, put herself in a defensive stance, ready to swiftly evade any of their attack. She was looking carefully, waiting for a sign of their assault. Two wolves moved concurrently forward, trying to attack her from two different positions: one jumped from her left, and was aiming to sink his fangs into her throat, the another one slided on her right side, trying to hit both her right fore and rear legs to make her lose her balance.

When they moved in that formation, she immediately knew their intentions: she ducked and rolled on her left side, letting his right attacker to miss her, but she used rolling momentum to push harder with her rear legs on his left attacker's open jaw, and sent him flying backward on a hollowed tree trunk, making him hit his head, and knocking him out cold.

Other wolves were approaching her, so she decided to avoid other fights, for now, and used all her dexterity to swiftly dodge her attackers, but dodge thirty wolves attacks was almost impossible, and a moment before she was leaving main ground , she didn't notice a wolf sneaking on her, and clawed her harshly on her left rear leg. She yelped loudly, but adrenaline was pumped in her body and partially masked her pain.

Her main purpose was to ensure her son's safety by any means, even if it would mean sacrificing her own life to protect him.

She kept running, trying to guess where her son would hide to avoid mass's fury, then she reasoned that the only safe place that he knew was their den, and she quickly moved in direction of her den.

When she got there, she could hear him sobbing heavily, curled up in a tiny fur ball, his fur spotted with some wet marks. When he heard some footstep slowly coming close to him, he was clearly frightened, but he managed to scream, while tears continued to pour down from his swollen, reddened eyes :

"Get away from me!"

Katherine's heart was destroyed to see her son's appearance, she was getting barely able to contain her tears . She get closer to him, whispering with a soft, comfortable voice, one that could comfort even angels in Heaven: "Shh, honey, it's me, mommy", then she hugged him, never wanting to let him go again for no reason at all. Then his sobbing quickly stopped and turned into sniffs.

She was thinking about the rest of the pack, they were probably organizing themselves to unleash a final attack, that would lead to their complete elimination. She couldn't let this happen, so she made her final decision.

"Grin, why don't we play a game togheter?" She said with her sweet motherly caring tone, but with tears slowly coming down from her eyes.

His son's head tilted side to side,smiling, and his tail began to wag furiosly.

"I want you to play this game for me. When i tell you, you have to run over that narrow pitch that only you , with your small paws, could cross. And swear to me that, whatever happens, you will never come back. This is your chance to see a whole new world…" She said, smiling knowing that his son will continue to live, but at the same time sad, with tears kept falling from her eyes, knowing she will never be able to see him again.

suddenly Grin's smile turned into a sad frown, and said, almost on the verge of tears : "Mom, but what about you... aren't you coming with me?"

Then his mother dried her tears and said: "Don't worry about me, son... i have something important to fulfill here... But remember, i had always loved you, and i will, forever...No matter what is the distance could between us, i'll always be with you".

Then she added:

"Son, promise me one more thing..."

"W-what, m-mom?"

"Never leave that beautiful smile of yours, in any circumstance life throw you in, because i'm sure you'll find someone who'll love it at least as much as i do, if not even more. Would you like to smile for me a last time before you go?"

Then, he smiled with a wide grin, one that filled up completely his mother of joy.

But time available was over.

Numerous wolves's irritated voices flew into air, getting, seconds after seconds, louder and louder.

Time to split has come.

"No mother, please…don't leave me" Tears slowly leaving his eyes

"I told you already, son, i'll always be with you"

She said, walking for den's entrance, never looking back. She found herself cornered by an angered avalanche of wolves. She prepared herself to battle, fight for the salvation of a creature which deserved one more possibility to live in this world, in its good and bad times.

She took her defensive stance one more time, determined to not let pass even a single wolf.

She shouted: "NOW!" and then a little furry shape dashed out of the den, approaching the narrow passage above the nearby cliff.

"He's trying to escape!" a closer wolf said, trying to reach him, but was quickly stopped by his enraged mother, which put herself in between his escaping son and attacking wolf.

"Don't you DARE to put your filthy hands on MY SON, or i'm gonna kick your ass so strongly that you're gonna beg me to kill you to end your painful misery!" She said, looking at him with a glance that sent chill all over his body.

She saw his boy passing safely to the other end of the passage, but she saw with the corner of her eyes that wolves away from her were trying to bypass the cliff, using a longer road, but threatening to reach him after few minutes, due to his littleness.

Aware of that, she dodged various attacks, some of them unfortunately hitting the target, but she managed to reach long road's passage's end to block them.

"You have to go over my dead body!" She spitted on them in a tone full of anger and twinge. She was almost comlpetely exhausted, due to her enormous efforts to keep her son safe from them, and due to her recent injuries: she had a deep cut into her left rear leg, three claw marks into her right side that were badly bleeding, and an almost tattered right ear.

She knew she was almost at the end of her life's journey. But she had to keep fighting, at least to give his son a chance to run away and find a place where to hide.

She tried to gather every ounce of strenght left to stand in her last effort.

Wolves rained on her from every direction, trying to pile over her and immobilize her… two, three wolves got over her, but she managed to throw them away from her, and toss them over the edge, sending them straight to an instant death.

But she quickly reached her limit, and although she managed to kill four more wolves, she was overwhelmed by the next wave of attacking horde.

Wolves kept saying word of disdain to her while hitting her with all they've got: "Witch, die!" "This is the price to pay for having given life to a demon!" "You will suffer in hell for the eternity!"

They want to make her die from a slow and painful death for her betrayal.

Claw after claw penetrated deeply trough her fur, tearing every single shred of her skin.

The pain was lacerating, but she didn't scream because she didn't want to give them any kind of satisfaction. She could feel, hit after hit, her life leaving her body.

But, somehow, she was happy. Happy that every wolf was focused on her and not on her child.

After what seemed an eternity of increasing pain, one wolf, who seemed to head the mass, decided that it was enough and asked her: "Any last wish before leave this world?"

With a suffering voice, she said: "I-i… I hope that one day justice will prevail on ignorance of this wretched place… And i just wanna be there watching when this will happen!"

She laid there, motionless, covered in deep scratches and lying in a pool of her own blood, the only thing that make her alive was that sparkle in her eyes. That fire was far from being tamed.

Shocked by her spirit strenght, even before death, the wolf spoke to her one last time:  
"Such strong words coming from a soon-to-be-death…witch. Well, may these words accompany you on your journey to the next world, then!"

After these words, he clamped his teeth into Katherine's throat deeply, and with a snap, exposed her pulsing and bare neck.

"Grin…" she thought in her last moment, choking with the lack of air, blood flooding rapidly out of her throat, "…I love you."

In a few instants, soul completely left her body. What remained of her was her empty, battered shell.

**She sacrificed completely for her son. Motherly love's really unconditional, don't you think? What's gonna happen to Grin?**

**Maybe you're gonna find out in next chapters. Over and out, ladies and gentlemen.**


	6. A Ray Of Hope

**Hello, Hola, Ciao, Salut, and so on. Here's 4.28 AM, and i'm posting this new chapter. Enjoy.**

**Oh, and i wanna make a special thank to Rovio. It's nice to know that at least (some)one appreciates my work.**

**Chapter 6: A Ray of Hope**

**GRIN's P.O.V.**

He forced himself to run straight, without looking back. Tears were flying out of his eyes, blurring his view, but he had to keep his promiset o his mother to go on, and to not come back for any reason in that hideous territory.

After crossing the narrow path standing over the edge, he continued to rush as fast as he could.

He couldn't believe it. He had lost so much in a so little time. He realized he was now all alone into dealing with harsh reality. He couldn't survive for long like that. A little, poor wolf cub that wanders in a unknown, inhospitable forest.

He kept running and running for what seemed hours, trying to find a hidden spot, even a hole, for shelter from the impending rain, and, of course, from an angry crowd that wished to kill him.

A light rain began to pour down, soaking slightly his white-brownish fur. He had to hurry to find some place to hide.

This time luck was on his side: he found a rather small hole between two rocks beneath a fallen log, whose roots almost completely masked hole's hollowed log, and connected two banks of a small river that crossed territory. He didn't waste time, and crawled into the hole, finding a momentary peace. There, he thought of everything that rapidly occurred before, and couldn't help but started to sniff hardly.

"Why did this happen to me? I didn't do anything wrong!" He thought out loud. He really squeezed his brain to find a reason for such a deep hatred for him, but nothing. Tears were completely swallowing his bicoloured eyes. His head was a complete mess.

But the course of his thoughts stopped because he heard someone saying: "That little monster went over here!". He immediately curled in a ball, facing into darkness, and waiting for the inevitable death.

Then he suddenly heard another voice shouting. It was a voice that belonged surely to an elderly wolf.  
" You" said with a deep , but proud voice ,"Who do you think you are to trespass our pack's borders, huh?"  
"It's none of your business" said the male chief wolf "Get away from us or-" A wolf shouted, answering to him, but he didn't have time to finish his sentence because he found himself lying on his back, pinned down in a blink of an eye, with the old wolf standing over him, applying a certain pressure with his left paw on his throat, ready to unsheathe his claws. "Or…what?" He said, with a bold smile, looking down on him.

Grin was confused. He was sure they were going to find him and kill in few seconds, maybe after a minute. But a rather strange quiet occurred after that shout, and being damn curious, he peeked out the hole.

He was speechless.

He saw a tall, strong, proud wolf, standing on another wolf surprised by something. His fur was black with some shades of bronze on his facial mask and his underbelly, his tail was black in the upper part, bronze in lower part. His eyes were deep blue, but his distinctive characteristic was a long scar that ran all over his face, starting from his left temple, going through part of his nose, and finishing under his chin. He seemed he fought against something really big for having procured such a big wound. Although he was very audacious, it was possible to notice signs of an advanced age:it was possible to notice some white hairs scattering everywhere in his fur.

He let go the trespasser wolf trapped under him.

Wolves around him began to growl to him, but he seemed to be fearless, and with intrepid words, he continued: "I believe that you won't make me call other wolves of my pack… Because, if so,you'll all be dead for trespassing in half an hour" He sentenced, ending with a grin.  
Trespassing wolves were a little bit shocked, but, for now, they were about twenty against one.  
"Ah ah ah, don't make me laugh. Why do you believe that you and your stupid pack could stand a chance against us?"

"Well" the old wolf began to say "I'm gonna tell you something, but i'm not very proud of it… See what i've done to you before?" The other wolf nodded "Well… in short, think i'm the weakest of our pack"

Wolves gasped and chatted to each other, but their chief said "Liar!"

Then the scarred wolf smiled with a grin and said: "Okay, if you don't believe me, we have a very long tradition of torturing enemy wolves before… before killing them" He licked his lips sadistically. "For example, Joshua loves to separate, limb after limb, vein after vein, heads from rest of their bodies, just for, you know…enrich his private collection… and your head..." he indicated with his forepaw a pearled furred wolf standing nearby"...really looks like one of the last missing pieces of his collection. I think he really would love to...meet you"

Grin thought to himself, making a disgusted face: "Ewww, that's REALLY gross!"

It was possible to see that wolf beginning to cower in fear, shaking visibily and in the abundance of horrible details.

"Then" he continued, turning to face all the attacking wolves, "There's another one wolf which i think it's the most creative of all of us. Her name's Skyrie and… she shows a special appreciation to… Eye balls… she loved to taste their jelly, slimy juices, especially from just dead wolves"

It was possible to see faint a few wolves from his shocking description. Fear was written all over their faces.  
The scarred wolf noticed this, and he was ready to give them coup de grace.

"So, take this as an act of charity: i'm gonna give you ten seconds to dissolve yourself and come back to the filthy place you call home, or then we're gonna torture you very slowly until death, and then we'll feast with your dead corpses!"

He turned his back and said:"I'm gonna start counting now: One, two…."

Attacking wolves were withdrawing in a very quick manner. They wanted not endure their madness. They have vanished completely into the thick forest, scared to death from that wolf and his sick companions.

When it was no longer possible to hear wolves's running footsteps, he began to chuckle quietly, saying in a very low tone, as he was speaking to himself:

"Oh, they are all gullible in this world? Or am I too good at acting? Well, I must admit that now have several years that I play the same part, and i have never done more than tell them about Skyrie…"

Suddenly, he heard a faint sniffing sound coming from somewhere underneath him. He followed direction from which sound seemed to come, and he founded himself in front of a small hole dug between two rocks.

So the old, scarred wolf tried to say something: "Hello, anybody there?"

"G-GO AWAY!" a squeaky voice thundered in between sobs.

He tried to readjust his view to look better in that dark hole, and see a small ball of brownish-white fur curled there.

"Hey there, little guy, i'm not gonna hurt you-"  
"I don't believe you! I've heard what you and your pack do to other wolves, you're just sick monsters!" Then he began to cry heavily.

"Hey, hey, hey! Listen to me, little gringo, nobody is gonna hurt you, i swear that on my life! That was just a hoax, there's no pack, there's no suffering, it's just me and no one else… I have to act like that because i need to preserve my territory from other wolves menaces. I'm sorry if I scared you in some way" He said, in a worried and sorry tone

Grin's sobs slowly stopped, and decided to get out of the hole to meet this wolf. He slowly crawled outside, lightly shaking in fear.

When Grin was in view, that wolf was slightly amazed. He, in his whole life, had never seen a thing like that.

"What a cool eyes do you have, hmm?" He managed to say with a chuckle

"Oh, where my manners are, my name is Valen, and i've lived in this territory for three years, and i'm a lone wolf…so what's your name, lil' buddy?"

"My name is Grin, i was born two weeks ago in the territory of the pack that was chasing me…" He said, sniffing a bit.

"Oh, where your parents are? I bet they're worried sick for you!"

"Well" he saddened "My mother told me my father died before i was born, and so i've never met him"  
"I'm sorry to hear that"

"…And then…" Tears starting to form in his eyes "…My mother, this morning, come into our den and told me that I have to run far, far away from our home. I was hoping she was coming with me, but she never came after me… She commanded me to never come back home, for no reason… She said she'll be forever with me, but she lied!"

Tears starting to fall down to his cheeks. Valen's face was deeply concerned about this pup's present and future, but he has never been faced with such a situation. He didn't really know, despite his venerable age, how to take care of a pup. But now there was no time for whining, it was time to act, at least for welfare of this pup. He might have done some serious mistakes in his past, but this was a perfect occasion to try to obtain a sort of…redemption.

"No, lil' buddy, your mother didn't lie" He said, starting to hug him in a fatherly way "When you love someone, remember they all live with you forever…Here" he pulled away from the hug, took one of his small paws and placed it on his heart.

Grin looked confused for a moment, but after he understood completely. Although not phisically present, his mother will forever remembered in his heart. He smiled at his new discovery, with one of that sweet smiles full of innocence, that would make your heart melt like snow in the sun.

"Okay, it was a extreme pleasure to meet you, but now i have to go… I don't wanna stay in a such near place to those crazy wolves" Grin said, and began to walk away from him, towards another portion of deep forest, but Valen stepped in front of him, and said:  
"Oh, you're a tough little guy, huh? But you have to listen to me: you're not going to survive for two days into the wild forest… You don't even know how you're going to get food, am I wrong?"

Grin didn't even think about that. He was only a little, helpless cub. How could he hope to survive in a world totally unknown to him?

"Yeah, you're right, i guess…" He sat down, looking to the ground, with his ears back in shame.

"Hey, don't be dismayed, no one is born able, you just have to learn, that's all… and if you want, since you've nowhere else to go, you could stay with me for as long as you want, and, always if you want, i could teach you some important surviving tricks, and, if you prove capable, I could even … train you to become a little more stronger than a normal Alpha…"

Grin's eyes widened in surprise, and he got really excited: you could deduce it from the furious wag of his tail.  
"Really? That's great! I cannot wait to start!"

"So, come on boy, let's get to my…uhm, henceforth it's gonna be OUR den…Ahahah got it boy? Boy…"  
Valen turned his head to see Grin had fell into a deep slumber, slightly snoring. He decided to grab him by his scruff and take him to the den.

"Poor boy, you surely had a very stressful day…"

**I have a quick hint to say to you. I've compiled a sort of trama with 35 points to follow. In these six chapters, i used only two points so... I wanna say story had just begun.**

**Remember  
To  
Review  
Please, Please, Please! I WANNA KNOW WHAT DO YOU THINK! Don't be shy!**

**Arigatou gouzaimasu!**


	7. Tragic Memories

**Ladies and gentlemen, here's the 7th chapter of my first opera...**

**1) I'm pretty excited, because I achieved my first follower... thanks Valckross, you make my day!**

**2) Don't worry, Alpha and Omega characters will appear, but not really soon...**

**So, READ, ENJOY and REVIEW if you like... and if you don't**

**Chapter 7: Tragic memories**

**Grin's P.O.V.**

He woke up alone in a unknown den, remembering what happened yesterday, and his sudden faint.

Sun rays barely filtered into den, supposing that day had just begun. A gentle breeze flowed into the den, gently stroking his fur, and he really liked that feeling. He closed his eyes, trying to savor every single moment of that pleasant caress. After half a minute,he opened his eyes, heard his stomach growling, and he couldn't help but admit to himself.  
"Well, i don't have a decent meal since yesterday, I'm not surprised i'm starving!" He thought, and then he decided to take a look at the den.

He noticed that this was a rather large den, too big for one person.

"So he should have a family…Maybe i'm gonna ask him, when he's gonna come back, if he could introduce me his family members!" His tail began to wag. Continuing den's tour, he noticed a small spring in the inner portion of it. Water was seeping from a small crack in the ceiling, gathering in a upper surface that resembled a bowl, then falling on two other flat surfaces directed downwards, and ending into a small pool carved into den's ground.

He decided to relish that water, for drinking and refreshing his parched throat, and, man, it tasted great!

After having lapped several times, his attention turned to a figure standing into den's entrance with something into its mouth. It seemed a sort of animal's haunch, with some blood dripping from it.

"Early riser,huh?... I'm not surprised at all, you just slept for, uhm, about eighteen straight hours!"

Said the figure in his scratchy, old voice.

"Guess you're hungry, right? Here's something you could eat… do not do compliments, dig in!"

After Valen told this, he dropped the fleshy thigh on the ground before Grin, and he started devouring it with a frightful voracity. Surprised, he said:  
"Whoa, calm down, son… Don't eat too speedily, or you're gonna choke with food pieces!"

Grin stopped eating, and laid back his ears. "I'm sorry, i didn't want to, it's just i was starving and…"

Then Valen said: "Don't worry, i'm not mad at you, it's just you have to be careful… even the slightest distraction could be fatal, especially when you do everything in a rush…"

Grin understood what he meant, and began to eat again, but this time he savoured every single bite slowly.

"Yeah, I meant exactly like that" Valen said with a smile.

After Grin finished his lavish meal, when nothing remained but bones and scraps, he wanted to ask him some questions about his life, to get know each other better.

"Thank you for this good meal, sir,it was very good!" Grin said, licking his bloodstained lips to clean them off  
"It was my pleasure, son…" Valen said with a chuckle.

But suddenly a burst of violent coughing struck him, leaving him almost out of breath.

Grin was beginning to worry: "Sir, are you okay?"

"Yeah *pant* yeah, i'm fine… now… this cough is really making my life a living hell…"

Valen's coughing fit subsided slowly, and Grin thought this was the perfect moment to ask him something about him.

"Uhm…sir…can I ask you a question?" Grin said shyly.

"Of course you can, but first of all, i don't like to be called "Sir", I don't wanna look older than i already am, just call me Valen, ok?"

"Uh, okay… Valen" Grin said, hinting a smile. "Well, i just thought… this is a rather big large den for just a single wolf, so, i was thinking…you surely have a family that lives with you, don't you? Because, if so, i'd really love to meet them… They should be very lucky to have such a strong but caring wolf in their lifes, and i'm sure they're just like you"  
He asked with a tipical children's innocent curiosity, with his tail wagging the entire time of the question, anxious to know an answer.

Valen was astonished by that pup's wit… His intelligence was greatly above that of his peers for giving birth to such a concept.

But he cannot let him know his injurious past, his great mistakes, hear his whole story was too much for an adult wolf, let alone a newborn puppy like him.

He didn't squeeze his brain too much to find a story to tell him… wasn't the first time that he had been lying to someone.

But he remembered like it was yesterday painful events that lead him to solitude…

**FLASHBACK**

Three years ago

He woke up suddenly in the main den. He heard a soft snoring coming from his right side, so he turned his head right and couldn't help but smile at the view: the love of his life was lying there sleeping, her head set on her paws. Her name was Oya, she was regarded as one of the most daring and brawny fighters of the entire pack. She had a soft, reddish fur with a white underbelly and white ear tips, and a pair of gray-black eyes that conveyed seriousness, but also passion and desire to live. He thought he was lucky to have married such a unique she-wolf.

They had almost everything that a wolf could ever desire, unless for a particular exception, that demolished them: They couldn't have pups. They tried to carry on with their lifes, but the lack of a offspring weighed heavily into their hearts.

It was an early summer morning. A warm wind floated gently through den's entrance, letting some dust dancing in the air. Night's humidity was still present in aria, but it was definitely time to get up and start the day… But little he knew on that day he would have lost everything he loved… Everything he cared for.

Oya had just returned home the previous afternoon from training Alpha recruits, he really missed her, but, as both Alpha leaders, they have to share and divide their tasks: while he focused primarily to observance of boundaries, to compose patrols to guard the borders, and internal security of the pack, she was in charge of training new recruits, to make them strong and proud Alphas.

While he was dreamily looking at her, she rapidly got on her feet and jumped outside the den, looking for a nearby bush. He then heard her throw up.

Worriedly, he approached her, saying "Honey, everything ok?"

She, after other few sessions of vomiting, was able to speak: "Yeah, dear, I think now i'm okay…"  
Then she fainted due to her effort, and for such an high amount of dispersed liquid.

Valen's concern grew strongly: instantly he began to look for any vital signs… Her breath was irregular, but heart beat was still audibile. He decided to take her to their pack healer, Iko… although he had indeed a strange personality, he was one of the most capable people in medical and alchemic subjects.

So he didn't waste time, he loaded her on his back, and began to run in direction of Iko's burrow. Distance was percurred into a few minutes, but those minutes seemed an eternity to him. He could feel contractions and expansion of her rib cage applying some pressure on his back.

Finally Iko's den was in view, and Valen shouted: "Iko, we need your help, please!"

Then, a rather calm voice answered back to him, and said " Hush, please, there are wolves here trying to rest, don't alarm them uselessly!"

Valen entered into his den, and noticed there were other two probably sick wolves resting.

Iko was preparing a sort of concotion, mumbling words to himself, like a singsong…

Then he turned his attention to Valen, and said "Laid her here, i'll be there in a moment, just let me finish prepairing this medicament, because it needs some time to… ferment."  
Then he put down the bowl and covered it with lots of leaves, not letting air to get into the bowl.

"So…" Iko started saying, getting closer to her, "What happened to her?"

"I don't know… she was sleeping, and a moment next, she passed after vomiting a lot…"  
While Valen explained what happened, he began to check her vital signs, and began to touch her in some spots, to verify if there was something wrong, even in some… private portions of her body.

This annoyed a lot Valen, who was getting upset by doctor's behavior, and asked with an angered tone:  
"What the hell are you doing to her?!"

But Iko didn't bother to answer to him in a first moment, maybe zoned out due his discovering activity. After a while, he seemed to return in this world, and answered to him, with an always calm and thoughtful tone:  
"Sir, i'm only trying to do my job, i'm only trying to guess what is happening to her… if what i did disturbed you, i think you wanna wait out of there, because i just wanna see if my conclusions are correct, and i'm gonna verify them with a rather unorthodox method".

Valen, although not totally convinced, decided that it was better to wait outside healer's response.

After what seemed a long period of time, in which Valen waited outside and paced back and forth for nervousness, seriously concerned about her healt, Iko come out with a big fleer.

"She's okay now. She was a bit dehydrated due her intense throwing-up session, but the worst is over… But there's a quite interesting news that I have to tell you…"

He seemed slightly incredulous.

"…I don't know how to say it.

Although it seemed pratically impossible due to…uhm… your… "condition"…

well...congratulations,

you're gonna be a FATHER,

she is PREGNANT!"

…

END OF THE FLASHBACK

Valen turned slighty his head to shook off that horrible memory. He didn't want to continue to remember anymore, so he focused again on the present.

Valen started speaking, trying to not let him notice his sudden change of mood: " Oh, i don't see them for a very long time… I was alpha leader of my pack, the southern pack of Banff, here in Canada… i have to fulfill my duty to protect my territory even at the cost of my life, and this is one of our primary tasks, in which a leader can never escape. Without a territory, a pack could not exist. Then they left for a very important mission time ago, and i'm awaiting their return here, keeping the area safe. Luckily, wolves around here are not bright enough to counter and expose my little…tricks" He chuckled a bit "As you've observed before, they all run away after knowing mental sicknesses of my fake comrades… " This seemed like a perfect opportunity to change the subject on him.

" But now i'm wondering why these wolves have gone so far into my territory…"

Grin saddened a bit, and said: "They…they were chasing me, they said they wanted to kill me…but i don't know why! I didn't hurt anyone there… I was even befriending some wolves almost like me!"

"Hey, hey, look at me" Valen said, lifting up Grin's lowered muzzle, almost on the verge of tears, in order to make him look into his deep blue eyes.

"You have my word, son, if they even dare to lay a look on you, they won't be able to see anything else for the rest of their short and miserable lives"

Grin was a bit shocked, but he definitely felt protected: Valen ispired him in safety, something he had found exclusively with his mother…

"Okay, lil' buddy, what do you think to have a nice walk, so I can show you places around here,huh?" Valen said, but he didn't have to wait an answer to see Grin almost standing out den, looking at him with a huge wide smile and saying "What are we waiting for? Come on, let's move!"

Valen couldn't help but chuckle to himself in front of hyperactivity of pups, and followed him.

Grin stopped to look at Valen approaching him. Valen then playfully put a paw on Grin's head and started shaking his head fur rapidly, then he started jogging while saying "Try to catch me if you can, messy head!"

"Yeah, you can bet that i'm gonna catch you!" Grin shouted back, and started to chase him.

**Hmmm, did you get it? Valen has finally got his chance to be a parent. Flashback isn't over yet**


	8. Tragic Memories, Part Two

**Whoa, two chapters in one day... who would have guess that!**

**My creativity is advancing at full speed.**

**Rovio decided to add this story to his favourite ones... Thanks for the support, man! I really appreciate that.**

**However, as always, three are my requests: Read, Enjoy and Review!**

**Chapter 8: Tragic Memories, Part Two**

A couple of weeks has passed since Valen and Grin had met, they couldn't be happier. They spent all days playing games, chasing each others. Valen was really happy, he finally knew what it meant to be a father: Grin seemed to be a perfect child, one that everyone wanted to have. Grin, on the other hand, was living those carefree days that he had been denied in the other pack: he laughed non-stop, free from oppressions and persecutions of all kinds. They often lied down on their backs to observe stars, when sky were cloudless, trying to find pictures of the stars, and this night was one of that nights.

Nights were getting colder, day after day, but they were wolves, their fur kept them warm, and they used to sleep next to each other to share their body heat, or rather to keep Grin warm. They really looked like just father and son. Valen was truly having good times with him.

They both were facing the endless, cloudless, dark night sky, waiting for stars to shine.

"So this is the true joy of having a child of whom my old friends continued to speak of" Valen thought to him. "It's truly the most amazing thing that happened to me… i've never felt so full of joy in my entire life… If only I had knew the truth… If only I had acted more rationally that time…"

Tears silently were falling down his cheeks, thinking about those absolutely wrong events…

FLASHBACK

"What he did just say? My wife's pregnant…how is that possible… I didn't see her for about a month..."He thought, trying to hide his astonishment as much as possible. "Did she just… no, it's not possible, she couldn't… could she…?"

"Uh…oh thanks Iko, but tell me, can I see her now?" He managed to ask, in a slightly annoyed tone  
"Hmm… i suggest you to let her rest… I think she's really tired, both physically and psychologically…" Iko answered him in his quiet voice tone.

"Ah ok… however i think i'm gonna take care of some business, do you mind to tell her to go to our den and wait for me there?"

"Of course, sir"

"Okay, I really appreciate your help"

"Don't mention it, sir, it's my job and my duty" He bowed slightly to show Valen his respect, and Valen nodded in approval. He then moved to main ground, and while he was pacing to get there, he thought what to do.

"She couldn't have betrayed me… I think she loved me…" He thought to himself, some tear escaping from his eyes.

Then sadness was replaced with surprise as sudden realization that hit him like a brick: "Where she had been all this time, huh? She trained new Alpha recruits… And she wanted to test their…"resistance" in a very tiring discipline… but they haven't taken proper precautions, who knows, perhaps due to hurry to satisfy their animalistic needs… and here we are: she got impregnated by another wolf. Now I understand everything, why she was so excited to be assigned to recruiting new Alphas… Now i got all of your dirty plans and games you do behind my back… I'm gonna make him pay for all…THIS!"

Suprise was immediately replaced by anger, and revenge's desire.

He arrived to his pack's main ground, and howled a summoning howl esclusively for Alphas. In few instants, all Alphas were around him, including just-returned new Alphas.

"Brothers, I have summoned you there because i wanted to have a private chat with new Alphas, to make me congratulate to them for their achievement and to wish them some things, as a routine."

Older Alphas chuckled, and left, returning to perform their previous assignments, while new Alphas were staying over there, ready to listen to his speech.

"Girls, i think we have to postpone your… "speech", i think my wife is better suited to talk you to… such woman things, and i know she'd love to talk to you personally about… these things…" Valen said to them, arousing some womanish giggling amongst them. So woman began to leave the main ground, leaving four new male alpha recruits.

"All of you, come with me" He said in a changed tone of voice. "We're gonna talk about this in a more isolated place". New male alpha wolves looked at each one another, and decided to follow their Alpha leader. They walked for about ten minutes, until they stopped into a small clearing.

Valen, the Alpha Leader, turned to them, while he had assumed a very scary frown, and begin to speak:  
"Do you all know Oya , don't you?"

"Yes" one of them said, "She was our teacher in Alpha school, and of course, your wife,sir, but why you asking us such an obvious thing?"

"Well, because she's PREGNANT now…"

Their face lit up: "Oh, sir,congratulations!"one said, "It's wonderful!" another one said. They began even to howl in happiness.

"SHUT UP!" He said, full of wrath.

"I know… I know the father is one of you…And if responsible won't come out, I assure you that you will not leave alive this clearing…" He began to crouch in a fighting stance, ready to know the truth.

Wolves gulped in fear, and one stuttered to Valen: "S-sir, but i-it's a j-joke, i-isn't it?

Valen was slowly losing his mind: "Time for jokes had ended from the moment you set foot in Alpha School… if responsible has gut, come forward…Or all of you won't see dawn of the next day, i assure you".

Wolves were slowly backing away, but this action had sent to him a loud and clear signal: they know the culprit. Anger overwhelmed him, causing him to lose every shred of humanity. He launched himself with no mercy on the unfortunate jumble of wolves. They have no fighting experience to use against him, they only have trained to fight wars… On the other hand, Valen had almost seven years, and had survived many wars and tragedies, proving to be the strongest of the pack, and not for nothing he had become the pack leader.

With a blind fury, he shredded, crushed and reduced to pieces every living thing that was on his way. Limbs and internal organs flow into an endless vortex of blood and death. His vision was completely obscured by rage, His body seemed to move with an its own will…

After what could be half a minute, he found himself alone, among the remains of what once could be called wolves, blood stench hovering heavily in the air. His muzzle and his paws deeply soaked with blood… with the blood of those traitor filthy wolves.

"I showed them my mercy… but they didn't take the opportunity… they might have been saved if they had reported the offender, but no… they have chosen the most painful way…" Valen said to himself.

Now, after arranging traitors, it was finally time to deal with her. Just the thought that she had betrayed him brought him on the verge of tears.

"How could she… after all this time togheter, How she could love and have sex with someone else…"

He quietly sobbed, while reaching main den.

There he find his beautiful mate waiting for him, tears in her eyes, too…

"Dear, doctor said i'm pregnant! Isn't that wonderful? We're finally become parents, and I bet they're gonna be so beautiful that everyone's gonna envy-"

"SHUT UP, I KNOW WHAT YOU DID, OYA, AND I'VE ALREADY KILLED THEIR PROBABLE FATHER…Oya, how could you did this to me, after I gave you my all… HOW COULD YOU?!" He started sobbing uncontrollably.

Oya's eyes widened in shock, slightly confused. "W-what did i do? W-what DID YOU DO?" with rising her voice tone into her second question. "No…no….please…don't tell me that… " Her eyes were letting tears go down her cheeks, "HOW COULD YOU KILL THEM ALL IN COLD BLOOD? YOU HAD NO RIGHTS TO DO SUCH A THING!"

Valen raised his head to look her straight in her eyes and begin to scream to: "ONE OF THEM HAD IMPREGNATED YOU, SO I HAD TO KILL HIM! BUT THEY DIDN'T TELL ME WHO THE CULPRIT WAS, SO…SO I KILLED ALL OF THEM!"

"Valen" she said, not looking anymore at him, tears continuing to flow from her black-greish eyes, "I've never betrayed you… you're my one and only love… I found i was pregnant before i left for Alpha school, about a month ago… I didn't want to tell you to make you a surprise… BUT NOW" she suddenly shouted "I DON'T HAVE THE COURAGE TO LOOK INTO YOUR EYES ANY MORE… YOU'RE NOT MY HUSBAND ANY MORE… YOU ARE A SICK MONSTER!" she yelled the last part.

That confession left him completely speechless. He acted before thinking. He killed four innocent young wolves for no reason. He wanted to die there.

She approached him, and with a fierce and swift movement of her left paw, she clawed his face with all of her strenght, giving him a giant wound that ran across all over his face.  
Valen yelped from the extreme pain, but the real pain that was tearing him apart was inside.

He killed innocent wolves. He questioned his wife's loyalty. He was hit by his soulmate.

But there was coming something even worst for him.

Oya, suddenly growled, in between sobs:

"Leave NOW, and never come back here, unless you wanna die…your children don't deserve a father like you… you will be condemned to never see again your children for eternity!"

He will be forced to endure a life without knowing his sons.

He left, knowing that he deserved all this.

END OF THE FLASHBACK

"Valen, what are you thinking at? " A familiar voice said near him, bringing him back on the Earth, with a paw waving in front of his face.

"Errr… i was contemplating stars, and…I was caught by their extreme beauty…That's all…" He said, trying to invent a credible excuse.

Grin smiled and said "Yeah, whatever…I've been asking questions for two minutes, and you've not responded even once… I think you're getting too old…" He finished with a chuckle.

Valen, heard that last part, got suddenly up and said: "Maybe it's true, but you don't need to be too old to say that it's freezing out there!"

Grin rolled his eyes jokingly and said: "Oww come on, night is still young, couldn't we hang around a little more…please?" said, trying to convince him with his puppy eyes.

But Valen knew his weak spot: he couldn't wait to start his special training as Alpha, and they will begin tomorrow .

"Oh well, so i think we're going to postpone our special training's beginning if we're hanging around more, because i surely know that someone tomorrow is gonna be strained…" Valen said, sure to have drawn his attention.

"Oh, uh, i…changed my mind. I think a good night's sleep is just perfect for us, don't you think, Valen?"  
"Oh, you finally put your head in place… Trust me, tomorrow's gonna be a very long and tiring day…We're gonna drag out all your abilities and qualities, and don't think i'm gonna go easy on you just because of you , understood? "

Grin excitedly said "Yes, sir!"  
Valen smiled and said "Good boy… now let's go to rest for tomorrow, you need to wake up with all of your energies"

They reached their den togheter, entered into it, and laid back curling into two fur balls, standing very closely to each other.

Before they drifted to sleep, Grin said a thing that made Valen very happy: "Valen? May i tell you something?"

"Yeah, of course, you can tell me everything, you know"

"Well… I do not really know how to thank you enough for taking care of me… For welcoming me like a son…I love you" He said with his characteristic grin.

Valen, hearing those words full of gratitude, couldn't help but smile, and said: "You don't have to worry about anything…and yeah, i love you too, soon… Goodnight" He said, stroking lightly Grin's head fur with his paw, letting him fall into a deep slumber.

**Poor Valen, such a tragic past... but, at least, he's acting like a real father...Oh, and don't miss their special training, maybe tomorrow, maybe the day after tomorrow... GrinWolf, over and out.**


	9. First Day Of Training

**Aloha. there! GrinWolf is here again, posting his 9th chapter of his first story... **

**I know you're shocked, since I don't upload very often my story, so...**

**Anyway,**

**_READ (of course you have to read it)_******

**_ENJOY (hoping you like it)_******

**_REVIEW! (I accept everything, bad or good critics, because I have to improve my writing abilities, so tell me what my faults and virtues are!)_**

**Chapter 9: First Day of Training**

First rays of the sun hit Valen's eyes. He intentionally slept nearby den's entrance to be woken up early in morning, to begin Grin's training. He loudly yawned, and streched his old but powerful and muscular limbs, and went to den's spring to drink some water. He was not surprised that water was really cold, almost frozen, so he decided to plunge his head into water better to wake up. Cold water really helped him. After that, he noticed Grin was still sleeping, so he decided to shake him in order to wake him up, but resultless. "Hey, Grin, wake up, it's time" He said, firstly in a calm tone of voice, then almost screaming, but Grin answered him sleeply "Other five minutes, please…" then he rolled onto his other side, trying to continue to sleep. Valen was begainning to get slightly upset, but he ad an idea with which he would certainly have woken him up. He went back to the cold spring and dipped his left paw into it, leaving it immersed for a bit. After that bit of time, his paw's temperature was really low, and Valen returned back to the sleeping Grin.

He then put his frozen paw on Grin's nose, and almost immediately he jumped from sleep, yapping in fear and for thermal shock. Valen couldn't help but chuckle at his reaction, but Grin wasn't really pleased about that. "Hey" he said "Couldn't you wake me up in another way, could you?" ending this sentence with a slightly annoyed tone.  
Valen answered him with a smile, remembering also what happened not long before, "I've tried, but you didn't wake up…And this metod seemed to me the most appropriate to wake you up from your hibernation" He let out a small chuckle. But then he heard a small growl coming from Grin's stomach. "We're hungry, aren't we?" "Yep, i'm so hungry that i could eat a whole caribou herd, and be still hungry!"

"Okay" Valen said "But this time i want you to come with me…it's time you have to learn how to survive as a wolf"

Grin's eyes widened and his tail started wagging uncontrollably, he was clearly excited to walk his first step to becoming a real wolf.

So he started following Valen through the forest, watching him constantly sniffing the air and the ground, as if he was searching for something. intrigued by his behavior, Grin asked him: "Why do you continuosly sniffa round? What are you looking for?"

"I'm looking for… our breakfast, son" Valen answered him, and he nodded, understanding it.  
Following Valen's sense of smell, they arrived in a expanse and green clearing, in which it was possible to see some strange, horned animals grazing peacefully the fresh and tender grass that grew here and there.

Getting a bit closer, it was possible to notice distinctly almost five of them, but they did not all look the same. Three of them were taller than others, and possessed a pair of antlers that looked very dangerous, and other two were slighly smaller, and they didn't wear any horns.

It was possible to see two of them, one with horns and one without them, grazing the grass separately, and other three engaged in a different activity. The two ones with antlers were engaged in a sort of battle, doing various animal sounds and hitting roughly each other with their antlers, while the hornless one was watching the entire scene not far from them.

"Perfect" Grin heard a whisper near him coming from Valen , but he noticed Valen wan't s standing on his feet anymore, instead he crouched in a sort of stealth position.

Grin eagerly wanted to know the meaning of this maneuver, and started asking, but was quickly cut off by Valen, who put a paw in front of Grin's muzzle in order to shut his mouth and spoke to him in a whispering tone:  
"Shh, or we're gonna lose our breakfast!"

Grin nodded, and kept his mouth shout.

Valen was surely going to explain to him everything after, so he waited.

Valen thought this was a perfect occasion to strike, but he had to wait: his target was one of two elks, the one who would have lost battle. Infact this one would have been the most tired of all, and the easiest prey of the whole gang.

In the meantime, he whispered Grin to stay there and watch closely what was going to happen.

Then he decided to skulk closely to them fighting, crawling slowly, using tall grass that surrounded the clearing as a cover. After several minutes, he managed to arrive at an optimal point, in which he would have only jump to reach elks. He thought mating season was nearly over, but these two mooses were still fighting to to prove who was the most worthy for that female elk.

He waited until one of them was tired and doomed to defeat.

He saw one of the male elks tripping over his clogs, violently pushed back by his rival's antlers's force, and falling down, visibly exhausted, battle scars all over his body.

"Now!" Valen thought, and he jumped on the fallen elk, aiming for his throat. Within a few seconds, elk's throat was ripped open by a swift movement of his jaws, letting blood spurt from a massive hole in his neck. After a short cry of sufference, elk's body fell rolling on the ground, laying lifeless.

With a little effort, he obtained a excellent result.

Other elks, at predator's sight, began to be frightened and ran away, fearing for their lives.

Valen suddenly turned his head towards the place where Grin should be waiting, and shouted loudly:  
"Hey, come on lil' guy, breakfast is served!"

He saw a rather small ball of brownish-white fur coming to him, knowing it was Grin. But he was a little bit afraid of what happened, when he saw Valen take the life of another living being.

Valen, noticing his fear, began to explain to him: "I know what you're thinking at… but it's nature and survival's law… Without fresh meat and water, we couldn't survive, so we have to hone our skills in tracking, stealthing and hunting down preys…Nature has given us sharp claws and fangs to accomplish that. We're wolves, we cannot do otherwise."

Grin was still a bit dazed, but seemed to understand.

"So" Valen continued, "Did you carefully observe what I did?"

"Yeah, almost all of it, except when you jumped on that… strange animal with horns…you were too fast!"

"Ah, however that animal was an elk, it's a quite common beast in these parts of the forest"  
"But they were different-" Grin began to inquire  
"Yes, they belong to the same species, but there's a difference between males and females. Males were ones with antlers and a more massive build; females instead were the smaller ones, with a lighter and slimmer build, and hornless." Valen stated.

"But, if they belong to the same species" Grin asked, tilting his head mazily "Why they were fighting each other?"

Valen couldn't not tell him about the real reason, that would involve… mating concept, and he was still too young for such a speech.

"Well… they were fighting for their territory, just as sometimes happens between us wolves" He said with a smile, hoping that the explanation was convincing enough.

"But…so why did the other three elks just watch and did not partecipate in it?"

Valen was going to run out of ideas to say to him. "Uh, i never thought these kids could be a real pain in the ass" He thought to himself.

Luckily, Grin's stomach growled loudly, like they were in presence of another wolf, and Valen was able to temporarily postpone his answer. "Come on, you're starving, let's eat!" He shouted happily.

When they were about to rush simultaneusly on elk's dead carcass, Grin was stopped by Valen, who shook lightly his head in disapproval. Grin was a bit surprised by his action, so he explained to him  
"It is common practice among wolves that the first bite is reserved for those who have procured food…" After he said so, he began to tear apart elk's flesh, tearing its rough skin and reaching its delicious insides.

He gave to a sliming Grin a nod, and he began to tear into flesh too, savouring every bite of that delicious, juicy meat. When they finally finished their meal, Valen decided to drag the remains into his den to preserve them…

A lot of time has passed, it was almost an hour after midday, evaluating sun's position in the sky, and finally, after a little rest, Valen decided it was finally time to start their training session.

Grin was almost a month old, and ,in his old pack, that was period when the most promising puppies began to be trained, to become future Alpha Leaders.

He woke him up in the early afternoon, deciding to explain to him first how his training will be structured.

"Let me explain you training's structure. It's gonna be a long and a severe training, divided into four step, each of which will last approximately a month. These four steps are: General knowledge, Agility, Smart, and Strenght. Obviusly, you're gonna excel in few disciplines and despise other ones, nobody's perfect, but you have to develop a thorough understanding of all of these fields. Now let me talk about the first one: General knowledge.

In this first training month you're gonna improve your surviving skills, your abilities to trace food, water, improve and raise your sense of smell, indispensable for wolves. You're also gonna learn how to navigate and what main points of reference for orientations are."

Grin nodded: he was ready to face the challenge.

They come back to their previous hunting path, and they sat in the middle of clearing.

"In this first lesson we're going to awaken your sense of smell. Now take a deep breath and inhale air, focusing mainly on my scent"

Grin obeyed: he deeply breathe in air, closing his eyes to gain a greater concentration, staying focused on Valen's scent that he had learned well to know.

He could sense each type of odour floating into his nose: grass, flowers, tree's resin, blood's pungent smell still present from previous hunting session, and, among all those smell, was Valen's.

"Yeah, i got it…" Grin said "But now what…Valen?" He suddenly opened his eyes, to see him gone. Then he heard him shouting from somewhere : "Use your olfaction to find me!"

Grin firstly tried to locate sound's direction, directing rapidly his ears to focus on the direction of the sound source, but after his shouting, he couldn't hear anything else, only birds chirping and leaves rustling.

"Okay, time to put into practice what I've learned" He closed again his eyes, and focused on his olfaction, trying to recognize Valen's scent. He then followed his scent with his eyes closed, until he hit his head on something hard and rough. He yelped a little and found himself standing against a gigantic tree root.

He rubbed his head with his paw, saying "Ow, it hurts!"

He heard faintly a quick quiet chuckle, ascertaining that probably Valen had watched the entire scene.

Then he tried to focus again, but this time keeping his eyes opened, in order to watch where he was going.

This was more difficult for him: having to run more than one sense at time was proving to be a difficult task.

He then thought something: He could stop to sniff the air, closing his eyes and concentrating on Valen's scent, and then proceed in his scent's direction. It sounded a very good plan, for now.

With this new technique, within a half hour, he finally found Valen. He arrived at a tree's base on which it was possible to see some claw marks directed upwards, and he lifted his glance, seeing Valen standing in on a almost entirely hidden large tree branch.

"I think…" Grin began to say, visibily smirking "…I see a big old wolf up there…But i don't think wolves can climb trees, do they?"

Valen began to descend from the tree, jumping from higher branches to lower branches, using claws and his teeth, until he hit the ground with an aerial twist.

Grin watched the entire scene, amazed by such agility.

"Eh, eh… don't worry, boy, after this training you're gonna be able to do even more amazing tricks, I guarantee…" Valen said. "One small step at a time…"

Time has passed very quickly, and sun was setting on the horizon.

Grin was really tired: he had to play this special "hide and seek" session, becoming each time more and more complicated, until he was so exhausted to collapse to the ground and fall asleep.

Valen so got him by the scruff and took him into their den, letting him rest and making him recover his lost energies.

After he took a bite of leftover carcass , being lightly hungry ,and drink from the fount, he decided to drift to sleep too, to be prepared for tomorrow.

**This first training day was REALLY tiring for Grin, don't you think? What is gonna happen afterwards?**

**I'm not gonna tell you, you have to read THAT! **

**GrinWolf here...over and out.**


	10. The Nightmare Begins

**Hey there! I just come with another chapter, hoping you like it...**

**However, I just want to make a special thanks to KingAzxoll9 to his sincere criticism and i recommend you to read his story...**

**although I haven't read it yet, i'm sure it deserves so much to be read. I think i'm just gonna start read it after i posted this chapter**

**Chapter 10: The nightmare begins**

A month passed since Grin's training had begun. He was two months old… He wasn't anymore a pup, he infact began to take forms of an adult wolf. During this month, he achieved lots of progresses, and his physical appearence changed visibily: now he was about half of Valen's size, and a white mask was beginning to appear on his face. What haven't changed at all in him were his thoughtlessness, his joy and his smile, almost present on his face.

During this month, he learned a lot of things: he sharpened his sense of smell, coming to surprise even his teacher; he learnt how to locate water, and understand if it's drinkable; he also learnt how to use cardinal points obtainable ,such from sun, stars and tree's moss, to orientate oneself into a particular direction.  
His final test was to be escorted to a safe den far away from their den, sleep there the entire night while Valen reached his den, and, after he slept, trying to find a way home in the morning, putting into practice everything he learned in that month, and he successfully passed the test, not that Valen didn't expect it.

However, this first month was regarded as a sort of preliminary test, to assess the attitudes of the puppy and to see if it responds well to spurs.

The hardest part began now.

"Okay, well done, you've pass your final month's test…" Valen said slightly annoyed to an happy Grin, who was howling in happiness, "Now, calm down… This was a walk… We're gonna get to the most difficult transition of this training… This part was almost much theory and little practice, about surviving skills, but next step will greatly test your physical ability and your resistance…

Next training step is Agility… you're gonna improve your stamina, your speed, your endurance…we are going to do lots of excercises. But we are going to start tomorrow… I admit that you have earned a well-deserved rest for today… And then the sun is setting, so we won't still have time to do anything… Go take a nap while i'm gonna procure dinner" Valen said, and then left.

Grin nodded, and went into the den. "Home sweet home" He thought to himself "Aww, how i missed my favourite, soft spot tonight…It was a torture to sleep in that rocky den…" After a couple of seconds, he fell into a deep slumber, clearly he reached his limit with today's examination.

Valen come back into den after an hour with large marmot in his jaws. He temporarily placed his pray on the ground, trying to wake Grin up and start dinner, but he was snoring loudly, signal that was fast asleep and that, perhaps, it was better to let him rest.

So, Valen ate his portion of the marmot, leaving some for him if woke and was hungry, and drifted to sleep, too.

**Grin's P.O.V.**

It was pitch dark around me… to turned around, trying to realize what was surrounding me, but nothing…Present in the air around was the stench of sulfur mixed with blood… Demonic laughters filled the air… Then a rather familiar voice began to say: "You cannot fight forever…sooner or later you will succumb to its power… you will not be able to contain it anymore…when it will unleash its wrath…then, you will become one!" This voice finished the speech with a mefitic crazy laughter, one that makes skins crawl and living being stiffen in fear.

Frightened tremendously by that voice, scared to death, he began to run aimlessly, trying to get away as possible from that voice. But the more he ran, the more it seemed to get closer to the voice… or the voice was getting closer to him?

"Stay away from me!" Grin managed to scream, while running, but he was going shortly to run out of breath.

"You could run from me, boy, but you cannot hide yourself forever from madness …" The voice said, as it was getting closer and closer

He turned his gaze to the sky, that suddenly turned a deep red and clouds were forming very quickly over his head. Lightnings, followed by thunders, pierced the climate, roaring menacingly.

After few second, something plopped on Grin's muzzle. He used his paw to wash it off, and he saw what it was: blood. Rain became, second by second, more intense… It was raining blood.

Grin so decided to move forward, but all that blood was beginning to weigh on his fur… blood was making him slow.

Step by step, he seemed to climb a mountain, due to extreme difficulty to go on. He then saw a light flashing behind him, and turned his head.

Two bloody red eyes were floating into nothingness, getting closer and closer to him. Achieved a certain distance from him, under them appeard out of nowhere an extremely large mouth, with a grin that somehow reminded him of his, but it was different at the same time… This was really… maybe the sickest smile in the world.

"Don't be afraid of me… I'm a part of you… just like you're a part of me" The floating mouth said while keeping its devilish grin, getting more closer to him.

Grin tried to retreat slowly, scared by the situation, but with all that blood's weight was really difficult .

"Come on, don't be shy… let me eat your…pure… SOUL!" Then that being began to run toward him.

He was getting back, but he slipped on something and fell down, into what seemed a never ending darkness.

"-AAAAAAAAAH!"

Grin screamed and jumped up into the den, nearly hitting the ceiling. It was still night. Everybody in the den was awake. Grin's breath was irregular, sweat all over his fur. His throat was dry and pasty.

He had a bad dream.

Yeah, he had few, but this one seemed too…real for him. He could still feel bad feelings of that dream: heaviness, the uncontrollable fear, the encounter with that…devil.

But the thing that disturbed him most was when he said that one was part of the other…

Valen was concerned about him: he never saw him like that before. Yeah, he had few bad dreams before, but nothing too serious…

But this time, he could see nothing but pure terror in his eyes…

"Boy, what happened…?" Valen asked him, slightly shocked.

Grin was staring an empty space into the void, his eyes opened wide, his jaws opened, tears quickly falling from his eyes.

After he heard Valen's voice, he began to shake uncontrollably and collapses on the ground, starting to cry as if there was no tomorrow.

Valen decided to comfort him somehow, so he embraced Grin, trying to soothe him.

"Hey, hey, don't cry, i'm here, boy…" He whispered to him. Grin's weeping slowly faded away, turning into some sniffles.

Grin tried to stutter something to Valen, but he was too shocked to say anything intelligible:

"He…demon…one…soul…blood…fear…"

"Shhh, it was just a bad dream…" Valen said, but it was clear: something had left a deep scar in his mind to make him babble like that.

Valen was dying to know what had he dreamed of, but this moment seemed to him the less appropriate.

While he thought all of this, he noticed that Grin fell again into a deep slumber. Relieved from that, he decided to stay beside him anyway, in case this happened again.

He relaxed, laying on the ground, and went back to sleep.

Hours passed, and night was finally turning into day.

Valen was the first to woke up, as usual, but this time didn't mean to wake Grin up immediately, after what happened the night before. But to his suprise, Grin woke up almost immediately after him; he streched his still small (if compared to an adult wolf) limbs, and the thing that surprised him most was that he seemed excited to begin his new training session.

Valen, noticing his good mood, decided to ask him about his recent nightmare, but he has promised to himself not to insist if he didn't want to tell him, maybe it would bring an emotive shock to him.

"So… what did you dream last night, boy?" Valen began to ask.

Grin, heard his question, tilted his head to a side, and said "Why do you ask me?... Well, i don't remember anything of what i dreamed of…" and then he tried to remember, squeezing hardly his brain, but nothing came to him.

Valen was astonished and fascinated: he had heard of some defense mechanisms linked to brain, memories and shock, but this was the first time that he was in front of such a situation.

Basically, Grin unwittingly triggered a defense mechanism act to guarantee brain's integrity: he removed completely the memory of that shocking event, in his case, his nightmare.

Valen, although curious about his nightmare, was extremely relieved to know that nightmare had not had a serious impact on him… at least not anymore.

"Oh well, it doesn't matter, now we have to focus on something more important…we have to do our training session, remember?" Valen said, while going out of the den.

After those words, Grin rushed out of the den, longing to begin their second session of training.

They got into their favourite training spot: a clearing.

"Okay, now i want you to test your base speed, so I can keep track of your progress… Basically, your first challenge is to race…against me"

"But…aren't you too old for a thing like that?" Grin asked, almost snickering

"Yeah, yeah, have fun now…because you're gonna bite a lot of dust… however, we're going to start our race here and and end it… hmm… let me see…" Valen looked around there to see a reference point "… at that peak over there"

"But…but…this is insanity! It will be at least ten miles away!"

"is about fourteen miles ,precisely, and…Let me clear up this to you… You have to do it, otherwise…No dinner tonight for you!" Valen said

"Grr… Now i know why you didn't teach me how to hunt yet…" Grin said, muttering under his breath

"Okay…here we are…READY…SET…GO!"

Both wolves sprinted in direction of the peak, each one determined to win the race.

**Unknown P.O.V.**

A wolf was dipping some leaves in water… she indeed looked beautiful…she was not massive, she had a pure white fur with some magnetic, hypnotic lavender eyes…a very rare look among wolves.

"I'm so… happy… that you slayed them…they were such a pain in the ass…

'Oh, why don't you wanna stay here?' 'Why don't you find a mate and have pups togheter?' 'Don't do THIS' 'Don't do THAT'… They were driving me crazy!" Said the female wolf.

"…"  
"Yeah, yeah, i know, wait a-" A crack, followed by a loud yelp, were coming from a den far away.

"…"

"Here, it should be fine...oh come on, say something… even a word…don't be offended…"  
"…"

"Oh, maybe he passed out from the pain…what a shame… and I thought that we could deepen our mutual understanding…" She began to laugh uncontrollably.

**...**

**...**

**Did you just recognize HER? (Damn, i shouldn't put a suggestion in the intro)**

**However... if you wanna know the truth  
you have to stay tuned!**

**GrinWolf here...over and out.**


	11. Slipping Away

**Oooook, readers, here we go again! GrinWolf here's posting his 11th chapter... just hoping you like it...**

** and hoping you enjoy it as much as KingAzxoll9 shows to me...**

**Don't be scared to review and to tell me what do you think this far... As i had already said, I won't bite anyone!**

**Chapter 11: Slipping away**

Other two months have passed by… Grin's childhood was merely a vague, distant memory, nuanced in what could be regarded a near perfect machine. During these two months, Grin, under the careful guidance of Valen, had become far from helpless puppy that he was at the start: although not very huge and solid from the physical point of view , he was able to develop a great muscle mass, enormously concentrated in his legs and in his back, due to his exhausting trainings. He become even able to run faster than Valen, the one who had surclassed him in the first race, who got to arrival point two minutes before him. He also developed, during next training month, a very sharp mindset, that led him to be able to deal with different situations by keeping calm, thinking under pressure to all the possible situations to get out of danger, learning to evaluate the possible escape routes , how to locate the weaknesses of his opponents and how to use his surroundings to his advantage. Now they almost reached the fourth and final step of their training…today was the day that a test would have sanctioned the transition from one step to another one…

After that race, however , Valen's conditions has got worse by the day, getting to the point that cough used to burst abruptly during their training, forcing him to stop whatever he was doing to catch his breath.

Grin, although at first didn't care much about these bouts of coughing, thinking that they were sporadic episodes, was starting to get seriously worried about his mentor's health.

Despite everything, Valen decided to put before essential training's continuation to his health issues, well aware that, sooner or later, his extreme old age would lead him to an eternal rest. It was a matter of days, at most months before life would abandon his body, but he had to hold on…at least he had to do it for him.

**GRIN's P.O.V.**

Valen was taking a quick nap, after that another violent coughing session pounded him, leaving him powerless.

Grin was watching him sleeping on the entry threshold…he was slightly bored…he thought of something to pass the time…then he finally found something he could do… he had to do.

Happy and peg away to surprise his master, made up his mind to use his knownledge to hunt down for something… to prove him that his teachings had been successful.

He then began to walk around the cold, snowy forest, certain to find something to catch. His breath produced a soft steam that vanishes in the biting winter air.

Trees could be seen without leaves lie inert, inanimate, but still standing, as in a desperate attempt to resist the icy chill that permeates the climate. He couldn't believe that the forest could change so much in so little time. It seemed like yesterday that green-yellowish leaves fluttered rhythmically in the air, torn from trees and dragged from a pleasant but intense breeze… and now it was possible to see only the bare tree barks and pure white snow blending harmoniously into the landscape.

Although it sounded desolate a barren ecosystem, Grin somehow liked it… maybe because he thought the white symbolized a kind of purity to him… and maybe because this environment was very quiet… perfect for taking a break from the hectic pace of the world

Grin continued to move forward ,while watching carefully his surroundings, sniffing here and there, in attempt to locate something.

"Got something!" He said to himself, quite happy to have finally found a track. "But this is just the beginning…" He focused again on that scent. He knew very well that scent, it belonged to a very common quarry in that park: elks.

He followed that scent until he got into a small clearing, surrounded by some not very high mountain peaks. He could finally have a clear vision of what was before him: a rather large herd of elk was grazing there… each elk was moving here and there, stirring up the snow to see if there were any herbs to browse.

"This is a perfect chance for me!" Grin exclaimed quietly.

He crouched in an assault position and he began to slowly approach the herd.

"First step: after locate the prey, do not reveal your location." He kept playing in his head Valen's training words.

"Second step: try to crawl as near as possible to it, and then wait for the most opportune moment to attack"

He was getting closer to them, but something went wrong: he focused too much on the words playing in his head, forgetting maybe the most important thing of all: keep his body under control.

When he almost reached a perfect point, one of his foreleg twitched, maybe in excitement, maybe for the adrenaline, and stepped on a sprig, snapping it, and blowing completely his cover.

Elks immediately stopped grazing grass, and tured their thier almost-all horned head to the source of the snap, almost immediately seeing him. But they turned their heads in the opposite direction, seeming to be attracted to something else.

Almost immediately after Grin noticed their attitude, a giant hairy creature could be clearly seen, high on his hind legs, towering over all the animals. He was mammoth , at least two meters high, it had a dark brown fur, bloodshot eyes, and could well be said to be extremely hungry, owing to its high quantity of drool dripping from the edges of its mouth .

Then, maybe ready to attack, made a sort of war cry, riving the temporary quiet of the clearing.

Elks, clearly frightened by the biggest predator, quickly assessing what the minor risk was, didn't think twice to run in its opposite direction, determined to trample everything that they would find before them, placed in between them and their salvation.

Grin was slighly frightened: he was indeed standing in a favourite position to begin his assault to elks, but he didn't think about a possible disturbance of another predator, so he was at a point between frightened and ready-to-move elks and the only way out of that clearing.

"Oh, damn…" Grin said, muttering under his breath, realizing that he was in a serious trouble.

Elk began to back up, and began to run in Grin's direction, resulting in a sort of heartquake.

Grin was rigid with fear: he could be trampled to death by elks if he had not taken immediately of measures to avoid that, and if he were not dead for the numerous squashing, that giant predator would have finished the job, maybe leading him to a even worse and painful death.

Elks were running in his direction, getting closer and closer to him, followed by that fierce and determined-to-fill-its-belly marauder…

He had to act, now.

**VALEN's P.O.V.**

I was litterally shaken off of my resting nap, woke up by an intense rumbling sound, coming from somewhere nearby. I put my head on my paws, not looking around, and said, still sleepy and fatigued, "Grin, what do you think it was all that noise,heh? Nature's having fun out there?...Grin?" He turned his head to Grin's usual sleeping spot, only to see that there was no trace of him.

After that discovery, fatigue left him completely, giving way to a clear concern for Grin.

"Where the he-… no, don't tell me that…" His thought did nothing but add further worries. "If anything happened to him…no… I wouldn't even think about that…I'd rather die a hundred times rather than lose him… And all for a my futile…inattention!" He stomped his paw over den's bare and soft ground, angrily snarling in anger, disbelief in being so careless…

His healt condition certainly not helped him… all that anger and stress were doing aggravate his breathing difficulties… He coughed heavily, putting a paw over his mouth, trying to calm down, but what he saw on his paw really surprised him: he noticed that a sticky, foamy, dense liquid flowed on his paw during his cough. Examining it carefully, Valen recognized it immediately… It was blood, mixed with some purulent material. He could feel his lungs burning for the excessive effort in coughing, he could feel his throat drying time after time, and could feel his body temperature skyrocketing…

"No…no,no,no,no…I have to find him, at any cost…" He thought, and exited from den, catapulting into the snowy landscape, beginning to search frantically for Grin… sniffing here and there, searching for traces… then he heard a rapid succession of sounds that he never wanted to hear:

A loud yelp… that had come to know very well…

A very strong familiar animal roar…

A repeated beat of hooves on the ground…

A loud crack from peaks that surrounded a rather large clearing…

Valen's eye widened, almost collapsing, for the shock of the whole situation…

"What…the…" Valen only managed to think partially, because his whole body, despite his precarious conditions, propelled with a supersonic speed, blurring through the bare trees and white snow, almost like a projectile, avoiding all obstacles with skillful and masterly skills and dexterity, directed toward the source of these sounds.

"Grin…hold on…i'm coming…" He thought, during his rush.

**GRIN's P.O.V.**

I tried to move… but it was impossible… I moved too late… the weight of all this snow over me is crushing me… I could only see near my left side dyeing red, due to a rather large gash in his right side, inflicted by that almost invincible monster… My energies are slowly slipping away… I can feel my rib cage slowly decreasing its up-and-down motion's pace… I'm starting to feel cold… not a normal cold, but a cold that sends chills through my body…If only I had not been so stupid..so unconscious…all of this would never have happened.

A single, almost frozed tear slowly left his eyes, in resignation of his inevitable doom.

Event of what happened shortly before were replaying in his mind…

**Point-of-Death FLASHBACK**

Few meters separed running elks from him. He then hinted at a retreat, but he thought that in a matter of seconds he would have been reached by the herd of herbivorous grazers, and suffered a series of unspeakable pain due to their hard hooves that would repeatedly hit his body.

Afteward, he came to the solution to climb some trees, and so trying to avoid herd's fury by placing in a higher position, but, although at first it seemed like a good move, herd was desperately trying to escape at that animal being, violently beating with every portion of their bodies whatever was in their outrush, including stones, tree barks , stomping into little ponds, plucking grass from the soil, raising a dense, dusty tide, resulting in getting his view completely blurred. He could only hear the continuous banging of elk's hooves, and and elk's impacts's noises against surrounding objects.

Some of them inevitably slammed themselves against Grin's climbed tree, causing it to vibrate violently, sending through it shock waves arriving at its upper portion, causing its branches to shake wildly.

Grin tried to maintain his balance digging his unsheated claws into branch's bark, but hind limbs's paw damaged branch's structure, compromising its hardiness, and so it cracked under his weight.

*Crack* He heard from behind him, and gravity began to exert its influence on Grin's body, dragging him down into a fall.

But indeed he had a sort of luck: elk's stampede seemed to come to an end, letting them to escape from the clearing and from that vicious predator.

As I said, it was a "sort" of luck: although he managed to remain almost unscathed from herd's get-away, just a few scratches from the fall, he found himself just behind that cogent, massive beast.

The beast seemed not to have noticed it, but now he had to face another great problem: this savage animal precluded the only way out of the clearing.

He thought he had to sneak out of the clearing, trying to circle him in the most soundless manner possible, in order not to let him become aware of its presence.

Grim jumped softly behind a tree, to seek a momentary shelter from its eyesight…He hoped that it was going to abandon the clearing and follow elk's heard… but he turned back, for some reason, and began to sniff the air, looking for something.

"Oh…no…don't tell me tha-" While he thought this, a fierce paw pierced almost entirely through the tree bark behind which he was hidden, making one beast's claw penetrate deeply into his right side, letting him emit a loud moan of pain that jangled firstly in every corner of the plain, and then flowed outside strongly extolled , as if the plain were a sort of sound amplifier.

Hit by that creature, he jumped back, leaving in the process a trail of blood… The fierce, unfamiliar creature issued a sort of war whoop, maybe glad that its blow had hit the target, maybe glad to have found an easy prey.

But, that it was the straw that broke camel's back. After that cry, it was possible to hear a loud crack coming from peaks of surrounding mountains. Portions of them broke off, also them being dragged by gravity's force, and Grin noticed that mountains's snowy separated portions were approaching them with a very high speed.

Grin backed up slowly, clearly scared about that scenario…He had never seen the manifestation of such a large force of nature…a cataclysm…an avalanche . He tried to back up faster, but pain in his side was greatly slowing his movements…

The fierce animal lose any interest in him, and began to think about its safety, and began to run to the exit of the clearing, but it was all useless…

The force of the avalanche overwhelmed them both, sending them crashing into a rotary, swirling, neverending motion, bringing them under a heavy blanket of snow.

After that… Silence reigned.

**Unknown P.O.V.**

"Oh…finally you're awake! You were just babbling nonsense all the time during your little…coma…" Said a female voice, excited a little.

Another voice groaned in pain. His eyes transmitted apparently sorrow and misfortune , but she could perceive that ,behind that facade, something fascinating and intoxicating belonged to him… something deeply hidden in him… something that in some way they have in common.

Raising his head, he spoke, stuttering lightly and looking a bit around in confusion : "W-where am I?... W-who are y-you?..."

"Shh…" she said "… and rest a little more, don't worry… i'm a friend…" She said, trying to calm him from his sudden shock.

He thought that if she wanted him dead, he would have killed long time ago…

After he thought that, he took a glimpse of her eyes… they were of a light lavender color… they were so mesmerizing… and he blacked out again.

**Hope you liked it... GrinWolf here...over and out.**


	12. Frozen Time

**Well, well, well... what do we have here, another chapter? IN THE SAME DAY?**

**It's amazing, isn't it? (But why don't you tell me that in some reviews, you know, just to say something...I'm kidding, men and women who read**

**my story and don't make comment...ahahah sorry, I just ate something that makes me sour tonight)**

**I'D REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY LOVE TO KNOW WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THIS STORY!**

**Anyways, Enjoy this new chapter!**

**Chapter 12: Frozen time**

**VALEN's P.O.V.**

I reached the clearing's entrance… I was in disbelief at what was in front of me. Uprooted trees lay here and there irregularly, with snow accumulated in different points, forming mounds. Snow was very high, forming a vertical drop at the entrance of the clearing itself… From there I could still see see small pieces of mountain detach from the high mountain peaks, crumbling downstream and getting larger and larger during their descent. I finally understood what happened: all noises had resulted in a landslide.

Another fit of coughing violently striked me, but this time i wasn't even able to let my paw reach my mouth, due to its roughness. I slumped to the soft snowy ground, trying to breathe deeply and recover my strenght, but disease was advancing at a very high pace. My uncontrollable cough yielded a more abundant blood and purulent product, sign that my time had almost come to an end.

I crawled along the recently-formed snowy slope…striving with all the energy in my possession… I could do nothing but drag my tired and weak body… Now I am just a pale reflection of what I was once…Strong, dismissive of the danger, unstoppable at nothing…And now… Begging to myself to find a shred of energy to mov-…to drag my tired flash on the floor…

Moving along the slope, my feet kept sinking into the tall snow, reaching the end of that inclination having the head as the only visible part and not immersed into the cold snow. Move with all that snow around the body required more energies…For a normal, salubrious wolf even move into that immense snowy tide was a difficult challenge, imagine what it might represent for a moribound wolf like him…

But I kept going on: nothing was going to stop me, not even death itself. I have to accomplish at least this mission. Achieved the center of the flatland, he began to feel Grin's faint odor, and began to follow his scent at the points where it became stronger. After several digging attempts, to get as fast as possible Grin, he began to smell a strange, rusty stench that hovered between some snowdrift.

"No…it couldn't be possibl…!* cough cough*" Another violent attack of coughing struck him, making him almost choke, at the very moment in which he made the bitter discovery: there was some snow that was dyed red. This wasn't his own blood expelled by coughing, no… This was a vivid red color, and it could belong to a single… it was Grin's.

"Hey!..." Valen managed to scream with all his remaining voice, his respiratory burned in an unbearable manner, with some purulent and fluid exudate ascending in his throat, coming straightly from his lungs.

"…Grin!...Answer to me!..." He was able to shout, with his raucous and bubbling voice.

Nothing. No answer, no sound. The snow had used its vim as an eraser and wiped out everything with its disruptive force.

Valen was beginning to lose his hopes. He, that he never had given up at nothing, found himself in that damned situation.

He now did not want to do anything but cower and cry… Cry,for the loss of a young wolf… for the loss of a child… for the loss of his first and only true son… a being who had loved him and respected him unconditionally… who treated him as a parent…

Tears of sadness and resignation formed in his eyes, reluctant to fall, maybe because they would not submit to his such unfortunate fate.

"I don't care about what is going to happen to me…but… if there's at least one way…one way to make sure he is still alive…please…" Valen thought, looking up to the white-greyish sky.

A light, small snowflake gently glided over his nose, gently tickling his not-anymore wet nose, melting istantly. Second after second, few snowflakes plunged onto the ground in a sort of a straight line, mixing with the surrounding snow… but somehow they looked like surrounded with a strange mystical air, as they…as they were somehow showing him a direction to follow and where to dig.

Not really knowing what else to believe in, but being in a desperate situation, in which even the second could establish a difference between life and death, he decided to dig along the line drawn by these strange snowy flakes.

He kept digging, and digging, and digging, using all his leftover energies, just to rescue him… but he could sense his smell getting intensified, sign that he finally was getting closer to him…

"DON'T dare to give up, boy, I'll never forgive you that…"

His efforts finally were rewarded: he found Grin. But his condition appeared to be almost critical: he was unconscious, he had a massive gash in his right side, but fortunately it seemed that excessive cold which has been submitted under acted as a vasoconstrictor, limiting blood's leakage from his wound… thing that worried him the most was his uncontrollably trembling in his uncosciousness , due to the extreme chill. But, at least, he was still alive.

"Hey kid…hey!" Valen shouted, trying to wake him up, but he continued to shake with no answers.

"I have to do something to raise his body warmth, or he's gonna die of hypothermia!" Valen commanded to himself.

Then he thought he could transfer his body heat to him literally placing himself on him, so as to greatly increase the contact surface between their bodies and have a fast heat transmission.

He could feel his almost-all-grown-up body shaking uncontrollably under his… but Valen began to shake too, but for the opposite reason… probably he got an high fever. During his shaking, Valen expectorated purulent material commingled in blood, but this time the amount was so huge that created a puddle in the snow.

After some time, he could feel Grin's trembling lessen, and he felt relieved. "He's going to be better, I know, but…" Tears of a mixed emotion between joy and sadness were pouring were falling into the adjacent snow, melting partially its soft texture.

Then, suddenly he felt something moving under his weight, and hitting him accidentally in the sternum, making him crackle because of the pain. The dolour tore him, starting from the impact point and spreading into his body, just like a powerful poison. Valen yelped loudly, almost collapsing to the intense suffering, but somehow he managed to maintain his balance.

**GRIN's P.O.V.**

Grin opened his eyes for some reason…maybe he just died, and was time to live another reality…but he find himself staring in what looked like to be a sort of hairy belly… and remembering what kind of beast previously was fighting against, he hit with both his front and rear legs that furry belly with all his leftover strength, not recognizing firstly who it belonged. A loud yelp followed his action, and his "aggressor" was pushed back.

He finally recognized it : it was Valen, come maybe to rescue him.

"What were you thinking, huh?" Valen said to him, slightly angered " Well, we can say you've reached another success in your life: How to scare the hell out a poor old man…" but his vocal tone went from an angry one to an rather happy one "Well, boy, now that our hide-and-seek question is finally over, why don't we go back into our den, so we can treat your wounds and fin-"

Cough had the upper hand on him, and made him collapse to the ground, worn out due to his previous tremendous efforts. Grin went slighly limping nearby him, deciding to help him to his feet, but Valen refused his help, saying: "No, thank you, i'm old, I know, but I still have my pride to defend…I have to do this on my own…"

Laboriously, painfully and slowly, he managed focus on the ground and rise up…but suddenly, with an unexpected and swift motion he jumped over me, screaming "RUN…AWAY!"

**VALEN's P.O.V.**

I was trying to stand up, pain flooded entirely my body, and i was trying to focus on the ground, in aim to distract me from my ache, when i saw a huge shadow cast on the ground before me… it belonged to something just behind Grin's back… I could see his huge paw and his to-its-paw connected sharp claws raised in the air, ready to take the downward movement, and surely take Grin's life.

"NOT…AS…LONG…AS…I LIVE!"I thought, and I used my latest energies to jump over him, trying to shield him as much as possible.

I closed my eyes, knowing that it was finally time to leave the world of the living in an honorable and dignified.

**GRIN's P.O.V.**

I heard a harsh impact just behind me. A cry of unimaginable painfulness was freed in the air. Severe clacks echoed sickly. A lifeless body flew, pushed by a giant animal power. Another unnatural snap. A wolf's corpse laid over a broken tree trunk. Unmoving.

Time seemed to have stopped. Frame by frame, locked into the various instants.

Sacrifice. Love. Care. Dead. Revenge. Wrath.

All these words crossed Grin's mind in a millisecond. His eyes closed, tears submerged his pupils, making them drown into a sea of suffering.

"…"

"Put your trust in me…I won't let you down…" A voice played in his head.

A voice that somehow he knew. A voice full of mourning and madness. He had no choices. Now was a survival matter.

He nodded and bowed his head, looking down, with his eyes still closed, ready to be engulfed by darkness.

**General P.O.V.**

The bear was uttering his verse… clearly, given its size, the avalanche had not procured to him a lot of damage, so he just had to dig his way out to continue to hunt its prey, previously wounded. The bear just come to see that there was more than one wolf, thus there were two potential preys. They seemed to be focused more on themselves than what surrounded them, not even going to notice a beast of this size that ventured in these parts.

The bear wanted to kill them to feed himself, so he went for the kill, clawing one of the two wolves, the slight bigger one, sending him straight to a certain death over a broken tree trunk.

Something had changed in the meantime.

The slightly smaller wolf was staring at the bear, with his head tilted on one side, a huge grin plastered all over his face. The wolf didn't move… it seemed he wasn't afraid anymore… it seemed he didn't care of nothing, except his desire to… annihilate every living nearby.

The wolf wanted to kill…kill the bear with all his heart.

The bear got up on his feet, trying to make his opponent more afraid, but the wolf tilted his head to the other side, as if being in front of him aroused in him some curiosity.

The bear was on the verge of beginning his attack, gliding on the helpless wolf…

But bear founded himself immobilized on the ground, with blood pouring from large gashes deeply opened in both his rear legs's hocks.

That little wolf managed to slide trough bear's rear legs, in a split-second speed, and rotate into his sliding maneuveur, sinking his claws in both his legs, and using his momentum to go forward, to cut deeply bear's mighty muscles, from the front to the rear.

After seeing the bear inexorably collapsing to the ground, he sparked a big diverted laugh, almost as if he was having fun in the break up.

He saw the bear trying to lift up, but the wolf jumped wildly on bear's back and began to shred him, ripping big and numerous pieces of fur, until he got to bear's back muscles.

After that torment, the bear collapsed almost slack, its breath extremely decelerated… but seemed that the wolf had not finished his opera yet: he began to clamp his teeth on the bear's throat, but not just once, but repeatedly, sentencing it to endure a cruel agony.

After the sixth time, bear's head crashed down, for its last time. Grin has committed a massacre…

"Oh…" Grin said, loudly, "I wonder where Valen is… oh, there…he…is!" He said, approaching his dead body, nudging him, but no getting any response

"Come on, get up…" He said, nudging him again.

He heard some paws steps quickly following one another behind him, but was too late: he was knocked out coldly.

**Getting knocked out by someone from behind isn't very fair, isn't it? Who it would be?**

**STAY TUNED TO FIND what's going on... I'm gonna sleep, now that here's 01:30 AM, hoping that tomorrow I would find out that someone wrote something...**

**GrinWolf here... over and out.**


	13. The Bitter Truth

**Good morning/afternoon/evening/night to everyone, my dear readers. Here I am like, as usual, posting another chapter for you...**

**Well, If you could, not making you lose a lot of time, just let me know if you like this story... here some examples...**

**"Great story, keep it up!" "I think it sucks! Who made you learn to use the keyboard deserves to die!" "I just love when Humprey marries Oya...I just would love to see their puppies!" "Why Lilly is going to die...why?!"**

**In any case, Read and Enjoy!**

**Chapter 13: The Bitter Truth**

**GRIN's P.O.V.**

I could feel someone dragging my heavy body…small wet particles were falling from its eyes, coming in contact with my fur… I could hear little sighs, followed by sobs and sad moans…

I opened slowly my eyes and I found myself in my den…I could catch a glimpse of a tan-red wolf standing outside the den, digging a deep hole firstly into the snow, then into bare soil…

Then that wolf went away for some reason. I blinked my eyes, and I saw again that wolf, dragging something and placing it into the freshly-dug cavity…

After a while, the wolf stretched its muzzle to the sky, and began to a long, mournful howl, shivering lightly for the bale. From the howl, it could be deduced that the wolf was a female.

A heartrending lament was produced by her, coming from the most remotes areas of her heart, able to tear the surrounding souls with ease, externalizing all her pent-up emotions to the world…

I saw her kneeling, almost collapsing for the suffering housed in her soul, but she turned her gaze to me while she was lying on the soft ground, saying softly, tears copiously invading her handsome features:

"Why did you just do that… sacrifice for him…If you only saw what that wolf did to that creature…But ,now that I've just found you…Now that i was ready to love you again…Now that I had abandoned all… My pack…My children…A safe fate into pack borders… And now, it's all useless…

...I loved you and I will always, ALWAYS, love you…"

My view was going to leave me again… But I had something stuck in my mind… She was clearly talking about me… But… what did I just do?

I collapsed into another faint, with world around me slowly fading away.

**Two days after**

I woke up after what had seemed days to me. My wounds had been treated with application of some medicinal herbs, favoring the hemostasis and the healing… Probabily I was treated by the same wolf that was involved in Valen's burial… However, she wasn't no longer present in the den .

I decided to stand up, my throat was so dry, almost as if I had walked in the desert for weeks, and so lapping a bit of refreshing, cool water from den's spring… but it proved to be a difficult challenge.

"Stop it!" A womanly voice cracked not away from den. I stopped and turned around slowly, only to see she was approaching me with a slow but determined pace.

I didn't know the stranger wolf, so I showed a bit of suspicion against her…Although she had taken care of my injuries…

"Who…Are you?"Is all that i've been able to say her.

"Well…" She began to say.

"…I'm…a friend…yes, i'm a old friend of his old pack…" She said, in a not very convincing manner.

I realized that it was a kind of a lie, she did not know that I had heard her during her desperate howl, and that I heard her soft words aimed at Valen, but, of course I couldn't force her to tell the truth if she didn't want to.

But I momentarily distracted my attention from the speech, to focus on what happened to Valen. I turned my head, looking outside the den, intently observing a bulging pile of earthy snow, under which it was Valen's lifeless body.

Ignoring her a bit, i went outside, limping slightly due to my right side's leaves-made bandage, to get closer to that mound of earthy snow.

Looking down to it, a single tear escaped my eyes… As in a flash all the moments spent with him reproduced in my mind… All the fun times…All workouts…He was always there in his times of trouble…Although with his biting sarcasm and ,sometimes, due his old age, showed peaks of intolerance… But I had learned to appreciate his merits as well as his defects…After all he was the father figure that I never had in my life, and the least I can do for him is show him how much I enjoyed his presence in my life...He made me feel secure and at home.

I lifted my muzzle and began to howl in mourn…A howl with whom i wanted to shout to the world my intense suffering…An howl that could sadden even the happiest people in the world…With full lungs I tried to cry all the intense emotions that I felt in that moment…

It was my first howling time like an almost-adult wolf, and has not been for happiness or contentment, but for an extreme sadness.

While I was howling, another voice enjoyed mine, merging her tormented moan into mine, creating a requiem of endless grief. Our voices blended harmoniously, threatening to touch the highest levels of Earth's atmosphere and to break the barrier between the human and the supernatural.

A two-voiced wailing continued incessantly for what appeard to be hours.

After that, I felt really tired, and went limping into my den, but I was stopped by her on the entry threshold of the den, tears streaming coupiously down her face, and shouted with a frightening anger:

"THIS WAS ALL YOUR FAULT!…IF YOU WEREN'T SO CARELESS… HE WOULD BE STILL ALIVE!"

My eyes widened in realization: She was right…

I was the cause of all this mess…What was going through my head…I thought I was doing the right thing…and I ended up screwing up everything i had… A life, a parent who cared about me… And all because of me.

I looked down in shame, after realizing everything… I was ready to face any consequences arising from having made those ill-deeds… I saw her rising one of her paws, clearly intending to hurt me… but right in the moment in which she was hitting me with all of her strenght, she suddenly stopped, falling on the ground and starting to cry her eyes out.

Saddened by her reaction, I couldn't help but try to console her in some way… but I felt the need to know the truth about her… about her relationship with Valen…about her feelings for him… I deserved to know…

I embraced her tightly and managed to whisper softly to her "It's everything ok…".

"HOW IT COULD BE OK, HUH? TELL ME HOW IT MIGHT BE OK!...HE'S DEAD...DEAD,FOREVER!..." She screamed looking into my eyes , and I was startled a bit, but suddenly her angry tone of voice softened a bit, almost starting to cry again "It was all my fault… If I told him before… All of this would never been happened…Why…why…why?!"

I didn't know what she was talking about… But my priority was to console in some way…

"Well…I think a rest can help us to feel better…why don't we go in my den an-" I was cut off by her sudden outburst:

"Sleep in your…den? AFTER YOU'VE SLAUGHTERED IN THAT BUTCHER WAY A BEAR?... I HAD TO KNOCK YOU DOWN, THINKING THAT YOU WERE GOING TO DO THE SAME THING TO VALEN'S MANGLED BODY…!"

I was shocked…actually, after seeing Valen sacrifice his own life, a total blackout had arisen in my mind… I remember also that I entrusted to an intense darkness force, that had surrounded my soul.

"I…I cannot remember anything…I swear! I'm not who do you think I am… Valen was my adoptive father…I would never have done such a thing to him, NEVER!" I said to her, accentuating the tone of the last word, stomping one of my paw on the ground, producing a small shockwave.

She stood up, and looked in my eyes: "So…that's why he sacrificed his life for you… I suppose you meant so much to him…" She then made an unexpected action: she hugged me.

"Thank you very much… at least he had another child to take care of…I'm happy to know that…" She said, hinting a slight smile.

That day I was really exhausted…Too much to bear…Too many injuries…Too many revelations… The only thing I wanted to do now was rest.

I said to her "So… How about a little rest? That might come in handy to us…" and she just nodded, too exhausted from the whirlwind of emotions to say anything.

So we just went in my den, literally collapsing on the soft den's ground… but before we fell asleep, she said:

"By the way, name's Oya…" and she didn't wait me to answer her telling my name to fall into Morpheus's arms.

I smiled slightly and shook my head at that, but I understood her: weariness had won its battle against our minds. Within a few seconds, I wandered too into dream land.

"You didn't earn my love, no… you never could…"

**The morning after**

Oya was already out, probably she went to hunt something to eat. That morning the weather was particularly cold, a blizzard seemed to want to invest the forest. I stretched out my limbs, but, man, I was really starving. I didn't eat for a long, long time, and my stomach seemed to beg me to swallow something in my mouth. As if on cue, I heard some light footstep approaching my den. My nose immediately smelled of something edible, but , right now, I would have eaten even the stones.

She come in carrying a succulent elk's leg, downed fruitfully.

"Here…" she said " …is the least I can do for you…" and so she put down to me that piece of meaty ham.

I didn't want to exaggerate, but my first bite was so greedy to have almost cracked bone to above which was attached to the flesh.

After I've finished, matter of seconds due to the high hunger, I began to talk to her:

"So, Oya… my name's Grin, and Valen took me with him when I was still a little pup…"

I began to tell her my entire story: the situation of my previous pack, my mother's sacrifice, Valen's goodness, our training, our developed father-son relationship, until getting to what happened three days ago…

I don't know how, but when I was narrating my story, I could see many emotions ran through her face: happiness, melancholy, guiltiness, negligence…

I told her what Valen told me about his pack: that he was the Alpha Leader of his pack, that this was his territory and that his pack was going on a long period mission, and that he was waiting for their return (although it seemed strange to me, I did not questioned about his explanation).

She sighed, and finally told me the REAL truth about her, about Valen and about their pack…

She was Valen's mate, she was pregnant, but Valen didn't know the truth… he thought he was impregnated by one of new Alpha recruits…so Valen killed several Alphas wrongly due to his thirst for vengeance, and she, as Alpha Leader, despite he was her husband, applied the law of the pack, but before condemning him to exile, she imposed on him a painful, deep wound on his face, sentencing him to bring a brand of his infamy.

Grin was petrified: of all the scenarios that he had thought of Valen's past, this undoubtedly proved to be the most catastrophic.

Then she told me that after about three years of wandering, she finally found him, but it was too late: she still loved him, and after few months, she abandoned her pack to find him… she told me that she climbed mountains, crossed raging rivers, struggled against nature that has bestowed upon her the impossible, rainstorms, blizzards, earthquakes, but nothing she could against one of the greatest forces that rule the cosmic cycle, Death.

I said, concerned, "So…now what are you going to do?"

She thought about most of the morning, but the only thing that came to her mind was to join a pack which she heard about that is very open to lone wolves like…them. They have to move north for few days, they're on the border between Banff National Park and Yoho National Park…

"Well, I just thought that…since we do not belong to a pack, what … what do you think about being a part of a pack?" She said.

Well, I have to say that at first that idea let me perplexed a bit, but then I admit that I was intrigued…have a new way of live my life, in a new community rather than alone… it could be a nice experiment.

I think she saw my growing excitement looking at my tail, that was wagging like crazy. She giggled lighly and said "Uhm…I suppose that means a 'yes'?"

"Yes… but tell me, do you know where can we find a pack here?" Grin asked her

"Well, unless you do not want to go back where you came from…" She answered him.

At this proposal, Grin shivered in fear.

"…We could move north, reaching another park… I've heard that they are friendly and welcoming…we have to travel for a few days, so before your wounds will heal, before we set off to that park… our probable new home!"

"Uhm…Tell me… Do you know our new home's name?" Grin asked with inquisitiveness.

"If i'm not mistaken, it should be called…" She squinted her eyes, trying to remember "…United Pack of Jasper Park…"

"I already like it!" I said, jumping… but almost immediately after I gritted my teeth in pain for my side's wound.

"Take it easy, cowboy!" Oya said, laughing a bit.

"I do not really know what's so…funny!" I said, also laughing a bit.

"Now, come on…" She said pushing him slightly into the den. "Go get some rest…"

"But-" I tried to challenge her, but she said, stronger "No buts, boy! You have to rest!"

So I was forced to sleep by her.

**Uh...You didn't expect it, do you?**

**GrinWolf here...over and out.**


	14. Dark Gap

**Hey there... I'm posting another chapter...**

**I just want to dedicate this chapter to a dear friend of mine, who died recently of a severe form of leukemia at the age of 24...**

**A young man full of energies, ready to shake up the whole world in order to help his friends... A simple and humble guy...**

**some of these episodes really make me lose faith in everything that I believe... However, I know that you're finally in a better place, far away **

**from earthly sufferings that have plagued you...Rest in peace, M.**

**Chapter 14: Dark Gap**

**Jasper Park United Pack P.O.V.**

Another splendid day shone on the broad valley…Few days passed since snow melt on the ground, leaving here and there wet spaces…Air was cold, but it was quite heated with the passing of days, producing a crisp morning shroud that enveloped the environment.

As first rays of the day hit closed eyes of Alpha Leader, they opened them widely and got ready to face another day of offices.

The leading duo, after opening their tired and weary eyes, after stretching their limbs and yawning loudly, left their nest, in order to inhale a breath of fresh air, with which they would clear their minds.

But, inside the den remained to sleep two elements, who were snoring loudly, one of them talking in its sleep.

Alpha leader sighed happily while watching them from outside, a smile imprinted on their faces, and the male one began to speak: "I bet they're going to be fantastic and fun-loving omegas… I hope at least almost as much as me!" He finished with a smirk.

The female one rolled her eyes, and punched the male on his shoulder, letting him squeal lightly in pain… and then she laughed, saying: "I hope they have not taken intelligence from you… because if they have, they're gonna have serious troubles!"

"Ah…ah…ah… really funny…tell me, do you have any omega ancestors in you family…?"He said, shaking his head.

She began to think, saying: "Hmm…maybe…but, according to me, your influence had had an heavy impact on me…" She nudged him with her nose, and he reciprocated.

"Oh…now that I remember…" He began to say, his eyes went wide for the emotion, "…She is going to finally come back home!"

"Yes, my dear…I can't wait to hug her again!"She spoke, tears of joy forming in her eyes.

"We cannot help but waiting until this late evening… She'll surely be came back home by then" He said, embracing her in a tight hug, and then looking directly into her hazel eyes with his calming, relaxing cerulean eyes.

"I bet they're gonna be crazy to see her again…I mean, after all, their sister was missing them for a whole winter…" She spoke.

"Yeah, I bet they will, too…" He added.

**GRIN's P.O.V.**

A week has passed since that tragic day. Things were slowly returning to normal, but sometimes the discomfort of such a loss came back to flog our hearts, making us powerless to do anything but cry bitterly on his grave.

It was time to make a change, and today seemed a perfect time to do so. Today I felt full of energies, ready to go to the ends of the world.

"Someone's feeling really better, today, uh?..."I perceived to come from a familiar voice. "…But, I bet that after eating you will feel even better,right?" She annexed.

My mouth began istantly to stain…rivulest of saliva were escaping profusely from my mouth, almost going to digest the land on which they fell. I was almost jumping in joy, the pain in my side almost entirely disappeared.

I pretty much launched on the piece of meat that Oya has placed before me, almost voraciously struggling against it,in a fight that I would have definitely won. While I was acting so, I could hear her giggles fill den's air, she was barely trying to hold back laughter, but without success. Obviously the way I acted had aroused in her hilarity, and I was quite satisfied. After all that period of shadows, bring a bit of light on someone's face looked like a really difficult task… But I had done it… and, man, it felt so good to help someone in need…it made me feel so good about myself…

I devoured that piece of meat, gnawing part of the bone and appreciating its bone marrow…Mine was pretty much a never-ending hunger… I could still eat another entire elk without problems…

"Thank you for the meal, ma'am!" I said, bowing slightly my head in esteem.

"No problem, kid… but, from now on, since your health is restored, and you trained hard with…" Her face saddened a bit pronouncing his name "…Valen… we are going to establish shifts for hunting and, when we're going to move, naming one of us in search for a shelter…Understand?"

I nodded, understanding loudly and clearly my possible tasks, I've been trained to perform them in a manner as possible tending to perfection.

"Ok, boy… I think it's time to move…northwards" She said, approaching rapidly the space outside their burrow, and I followed her quickly.

After I've reached her, we stopped a moment before Valen's grave, showing him our respects one last time, giving him a moment of silence and prayer before moving forward with our lives… As he surely would have wanted us to do…

"Never let ghost of the past invade your present…Set them aside carefully…Be always able to continue on your way, no matter how heavy the burden is, face the reality with your sparkling simplicity… and never dismiss your vital smile…" Valen's word reverberated in my mind, certain that they will remain imprinted forever.

After giving their final farewells, Oya said "Let's go" and began to run quickly, moving north, as if she was being chased by something, and I immediately followed her in her sprint.

**Unknown P.O.V.**

"BURTON, I SAID…STOP IT!" A woman's voice growled loudly.

Three female wolves were surrounded and almost cornered, driven by their assilants to a tall rocky wall, foreclosing them any possible escape route.

"Ahahah…Why resist so much, Maya?" He said looking firstly at his fellow, and then turning his gaze to a magnificent female wolf, whose fur was really distinguishing: her fur was like a dark ormolu colour, with silvery-white reflections scattered everywhere, except for her belly and her facial mask,fully decorated with a silver-white shade; but hes fur did nothing but highlight her eyes, her pure light cerulean eyes.

Her appearence seemed to marry perfectly her spirit: a valuable fighter was hidden behind all that precious fashion, she was awarded as the best Alpha student of that year…But it was an unequal struggle…they were seven against three…Their only remaining option was to flee in the direction of their pack, hoping to overcome their attackers in speed…

Burton was a kind of leader of his group,the most muscular, yet the most arrogant and pompous among his gang of vicious wolves…

"WHEN MY FATHER WILL KNOW ABOUT THAT...HE'LL-" She started to say, but she was quickly silenced by him, with the imposition of a paw over her muzzle, he said, almost continuing her sentence "Or your father…what? He's only an omega wimp, a pathetic excuse of a wolf…" He said, almost turning his back on her "What could ever that nothingness make me suffer…Make me laugh to death?" with an obvious sarcastic streak, which resulted in a big laughter unleashed among his poor fellows, which, due to their too many laughs, could barely breathe.

Her blood was boiling inside of her…Her anger was visibily rising in her, igniting a new spark in her eyes, a spark of hatred and vengeance, a low growl coming from her inner throat… But she thought it was better run away rather than deal with them in an open combat, and saw that was the best chance to escape from them, using the time in which they were bent double with laughter.

She turned her head to face her other two companions in misfortune, seeing the fear painted on their faces, stir them both lightly, trying to make them come to their senses, and she had success. When Maya nodded, they began their desperate get-away

Attacking wolves were almost all belly-laughter, but one of them noticed their escape, and said loudly, trying to get their attention:  
"Guys…guys!" They all looked at him, with a confused face, and Burton said with arrogance: "How dare you interrupt a moment of such extreme fun…", advancing towards him slowly. The wolf began to cower in fear, with his tail tucked in between his legs, stuttering "Ehm..I-i didn't m-mean to… but-"

"SHUT UP!" Burton said, stomping strongly with his paw in front of the cowering wolf, making him almost startled for the awe.

Burton now wanted to focus again on their trapped she-wolves, so while he was turning to face them he started to say "Where were we…" And then he found himself staring into nil. His eyes widened in extreme rage toward his fellows.

"JUMBLE OF DOGS GOOD FOR NOTHING! YOU'RE NOT EVEN ABLE TO KEEP AN EYE A BUNCH OF MAIDENS WITH WHOM WE COULD HAVE SOME FUN! I'M SURROUNDED BY A BUNCH OF INCOMPETENTS!"

Frightened about possible consequences of their inattentions, the wolves began to run toward the she-wolves. But they began to run even faster when they heard what Burton screamed behind them:

"IF YOU COME BACK EMPTY-HANDED, I'M GONNA TEAR YOUR LIMBS OFF, AND WITH THOSE I'M GONNA TEAR EVERY SINGLE SHRED OF YOUR PATHETIC BODIES, UNTIL THEY WILL BE CASTING THE LAST DROP OF BLOOD!"

And then they further accelerate the pace.

"What a waste of oxygen…" He hissed, shooking his head...But knowing their incompetence, he decided to follow them.

**GRIN's P.O.V.**

"Wow, she is fast" I thought, almost toiling to keep up her pace. She was able to change her direction quickly, almost traveling zigzag among various obstacles, knowing exactly the way to overcome them and not slow down the pace. I tried ,as much as possible, to imitate her not only not to slow down march's speed , but also to try to learn something from her. The result was a combination of grace , quickness, elegance and softness: sometimes I just discovered myself staring at her , astonished by her shuntings.

We came to an halt, after a whole morning of trip, and it was now early afternoon. We were panting lighly, due to our traveling stress, but somehow she happily said: "Well, I did not expect that you could keep up the pace of my run…At this rate, we're gonna get there by tonight…I didn't expect that, Valen has done a really good job with you…" and gave me a pat on my back "…not everyone can follow an Alpha Leader at full speed, I can assure you…".

In the immediate vicinity I could hear a water splashing, sign that some stream flowed in those parts.

"I think…" I managed to say, trying to catch my breath "…I'm gonna drink some water…you made me sweat all over!", and then she giggled.

"Okay, boy… so I guess the first hunting round is mine…stay close to that watercourse… I'll meet you there… got it?"

I nodded, almost exhausted, and went to that watercourse, with the aim to fill my throat with that sweet acquatic nectar. I greedily lapped water, feeling my throat gradually refreshing.

I also noticed another thing: the forest around me was strangely too quiet…not a sound could be perceived among the trees… silence crept between tree's bark…an eerie air seemed plunged into that piece of forest…

When suddenly I heard faint sounds of quick steps from behind my back…I turned back in time to see three wolves move at a high speed, almost sweeping me away…Fortunately, I had time to roll on my right side, placing myself outside of their trajectory, not bothering about watercourse's presence… and eventually I fell in.

Current was not very strong, but enough to allow me to not swim properly and be able to reach the shore.

The trio of wolves, having noticed what they had caused, curb their race and decided to help the hapless wolf.

I was tossed here and there by the current, looking around for something to insert firmly my claws into, but without success. I could see the trio run in parallel with my rapid descent over water, hoping to pull me out in some way, perhaps hoping in a narrowing of river bed, or finding a branch long enough to make me cling onto. But while all those thoughts crossed my mind, I saw one bronze-gilt of those wolves take a leap towards me, taking advantage of a shrinking of river bed, in such a way to use the momentary force of the jump and its weight to move both to a margin of the water course, and and he/she would make it, if a rapid increase had not been in current's strenght, thwarting his/her efforts…

Suddenly I heard some feminine voices screaming something, definitely belonging to other two wolves still on the shore: "WATERFALL!"

My and other wolf's eyes went wide in fear…the current was dragging us wildly, leaving us no escape routes, condemning us inexorably to a leap in the dark and at a tremendous impact…if not on the rocks, on the water surface…

I could not help but close my eyes and prepare myself for the inevitable.


	15. Malignant Emanation

**Hey there! I know you were waiting for another chapter, the 15th is up!**

**Today was a bittersweet day... I had give a final farewell to a dear friend... The great thing is that all my friends supported each other, just like a big great family, trying to encourage ourselves to each other...**

**However, I just wanna say thank you for all your support, it motivates me greatly to keep up with the story... Read, enjoy, and review!**

**Chapter 15: Malignant Emanation**

**GRIN's P.O.V.**

I closed my eyes, waiting for the inevitable. The corrent was impetuous, our bodies were suspended into murky water…ready to fall towards an inexorable descent, which would almost certainly have led to our immediate death.

Wait was tearing me apart…I could not resist, I had to open my eyes, face to face with my destiny...Whatever it would have been. I shot my eyes open and I saw that we were at the height of the waterfall, ready to begin the daring descent. While looking down, dizziness shook my entire body, turning my stomach like a glove and knotting my throat. At the same time as I looked down, I noticed a number of different lianas dangling on left… looking better, they were extensions of climbing plants protruding abnormally from the ground to the sides of the waterfall.

I decided that it was worth making a last attempt: grabbing the other wolf by his/her scruff, I found a rock jutting which give me a momentum, and while I gave myself the momentum, I threw the wolf in direction of the bundles of creepers, not releasing my grip on his neck, as to be also dragged in such way by its mass and deflect further our trajectory.

The wolf I grabbed, after having received my grip on his/her neck, suddenly opened his/her eyes, not really understanding what was going on. But he/she found herself/himself in mid-air, turning left and seeing just below. He/she didn't hesitate a second, immediately realizing what he/she should do, and clung with his/her powerful jaws to the liana. While the launched wolf succeded in reaching a portion of the creeper, I didn't have the same luck, so, as I fell upside down, I did a backward somersault, encountering something hairy in while my action…And I did not think twice to tighten my jaws into. I could hear a muffled womanish moan coming somewhere above me… And then I realized, I just bit her wet tail, being suspended in a void, with a small piece of fur between my teeth to make difference between life and a probabile death.

"HANG ON!" I could hear a feminine voice scream from above, from before the beginning of the cascade. After a while, I began to ascend slowly, always attached to other wolf's body, but I could feel losing more and more my grip because of the water, that made the contact surface really slippery…

But at a certain point, I could feel an increase in towing force upwards, and my hopes of salvation had finally materialized. We finally have reached the high land…I had really missed the solid ground under the feet…What a good feeling…

I noticed something strange: that there were other wolves to pull the rope, and not wet she-wolf's companions. They were encircled by three wolves, ridiculed and teased by them, but also they looked like… imprisoned.

One particulary muscular and intimidating wolf was coming toward us, but in that moment I could listen to a low,guttural growl coming from wolf next to me.

"DON'T YOU DARE COME NEAR ME, BURTON, OR I'M GONNA-" She started, but she was quickly silenced by his speech.

"OHHH…Congratulations!…As I could see, we have an engagement here!" He said, laughing uproariously.

"You maybe did not know it…" He said looking at me, getting closer "…But, that woman is already bound to someone: ME!" And then he suddenly turned around, trying to claw me on my face, but I moved laterally fast enough to avoid completely his blow.

Then she spoke again, "Why did you help us to climb the waterfall?" He answered, sighing for nuisance "Maybe you do not pay the proper attention to what I say… I just said that you belong to me…How could I let you die?"

"I'D RATHER DIE THAN SPEND THE REST OF MY EXISTENCE WITH A SICK WORM LIKE YOU! And, I bet that you do not have moved a finger to save me, your slaves have made their way to please you…uh?" She said, with self-confidence.

It seemed she had hit his weak point: a sudden anger revealed itself on his face, ready to explode.

I decided to say him something too"Hey,you…You can't push her to do what you want, got it?"

He turned to me, and said: "A knight, ready to save the damsel in distress…And where did you just leave your armor…In the sewer where you were born?"

I kept my temper, and I have not succumbed to his provocations, completely ignoring him. With my prior calm tone, I said: "From what I understood , girls do not appreciate your presence, so…Why do not you go for a walk somewhere else and leave us in peace?"

This sentence made Burton go on a rampage, shouting fiercely:  
"NO ONE, IN MY ENTIRE LIFE, TOLD ME WHAT TO DO AND WHAT NOT TO DO AND IS STILL ALIVE…and I will not break that tradition today!" after that, he launched into a leap to me.

She-wolf near me attempted to intercept him in his flight, but she was knocked out, being bent by his strenght. Her meddling, however, had caused him a momentary loss of balance in his premature landing, leaving him momentarily vulnerable.

"Now!" I screamed to myself, and rammed my head into his chest with extreme violence, knocking the wind out of him and causing him to fall in an uncoordinated fashion, hearing him complain about the pain.

But he was too massive to be shot down with a single shot, so, after few seconds, he was back on his feet, ready to launch his attack.

He was about to take action, but he stopped…He seemed to almost light up, as a solver thought crossed his mind.

He turned his head to his henchmen, and said: "If the handsome here tries doing some other heroic acting…" He smiled "Kill those…girls."

Wolves's eyes reveal surprise and scare: their leader had never expressed a similar command…yeah, they were villains, but that kind of nastiness went far over their wrongdoings.

One of them had the temerity to speak: "Boss, do not you think it's too…exaggerated? I mean, we ARE evil, but we're not murderers…"

"SHUT UP! You must do what I said and that's it, UNDERSTAND?" Burton said with an evil one scowl, one that none of them had ever seen manifested on his face.

The group of Burton's followers was going to meet a division…Some thought that their leader had gone mad and did not want to participate in this crazy plan ... others thought it was time to show off and show their allegiance and loyalty to him…yet others were intrigued by those perpetrating criminal acts.

But unfortunately the numbers were on the evil's side: only two of them changed their mind, against the still evil five . This was a perfect occasion for Burton to test their fidelity to him.

So he began to speak: "Since our dear traitors friends know too many things about us…well…it would be a shame to let them go away, they could pose a danger to us, so… I was wondering…" He began to circle them both "…Why don't we test your jumping abilities, just…right from this waterfall?"

Both of them began to tremble uncontrollably, now their fate was sealed. They were sentenced to plunge towards death.

"Oww, come on now…Don't be afraid…They say it's a fleeting moment…in a moment you're still there, and the next moment you're gone" He said to them, snickering.

"STOP IT!" I said "YOU HAVE NO RIGHTS TO DO THIS TO THEM!" in outcry.

He turned to face me, saying "I'm getting pretty tired of you…Every single word coming from your mouth is making me LOSE…MY…PATIENCE!..." He spat his last words.

"...Maybe I should have to prove you I'm not kidding at all…" He continued to say, approaching one of the companions of the passed-out ormolu-colored wolf.

He pull her to himself with violence, causing her to fall to the ground due to the force he applied, and continued to drag her then until they were almost in front of me. The wolf was whimpering in fear, with tears streaming down her face, not really knowing what she was going to meet. They stopped, and he put firmly a paw on her throat, starting to choke her.

"NO!" I screamed, and I jumped immediately on Burton, hoping to stop him before it was too late. I clawed his face, a three slashes marked wound displayed on his left cheek, pushing him back and making him move back just in time: choked wolf only fainted, her breathing was normal.

But then Burton issued a command to his fellows: "I warned you…forewarned is forearmed…Kill the captive wolf!"

Wolves rushed on her, starting to torture her with claws and bites, making her scream with heart-rending laments.

I tried to run towards her to help her, but I was stopped by Burton, who rammed me in my side during my rush, making me fly, but ,with an aerial twist, I managed to land on my feet.

"This is all you've got, greenhorn?" Burton said, laughing at me.

Somehow the stench of blood that was released in the air was penetrating into my being…I mean not only from the point of view of olfactory…It looked like it was turning something hidden in me…I was slowly losing consciousness of the reality around me, for some reason… I knew I had to keep my eyes open, and that if I had closed them, something dark would have swallowed my existence, making me unable to understand and want… Becoming a machine capable solely to sow death and destruction…

I know I have to resist…Unfortunately, darkness seemed to consume quickly my conscience…I was no longer able to contain it…

I succumbed again to the wickedness.

**Oya's P.O.V.**

I was waiting for him for help to drag the carcass of an old moose that I had knocked down…I was near our predermined meeting point, I kept calling his name "Grin! I need a hand here! I'm not as young as I was once…GRIN!" , but I couldn't hear any reply.

Then I could hear screams and loud yelps not far away from my current location, clearly belonging to different wolves. I began to worry about him, and, with a sigh, I began to run at breakneck speed towar the noise, trying to understand its causes.

**General P.O.V.**

Grin closed his eyes, for a moment…He seemed estranged from the world around him…He seemed to focus solely on what was happening inside him… and then something happened.

He fully opened his eyes, a vicious smile was growing on his face, as if reality around him was entertaining him.

Burton was taken from confusion: he didn't understand why, he thought his opponent was in trouble in that situation…Yet there he was, with a smile on his face.

"Now…you…die…" Grin said, keeping his smile while approaching Burton.

Burton roared with laughter, almost in tears, for that stupid phrase pronounced by him.

In between, Grin,with a super-wolf speed, launched himself forward with his hind legs, sliding on the grassy ground, breaking Burton's right foreleg.

Doubled from excruciating pain, Burton bellowed, losing his balance and leaning on his right side. Grin used that moment to to turn and make a twist, so that the next shot would acquire greater strength due to the angular movement of the performed torsion. So he clawed with all of his strenght into Burton's throat, breaking the carotid artery, the main artery that carries oxygenated blood to the brain.

Burton gasped, He couldn't ever imagine that this would occur in just a few seconds, two seconds that would have led him to death. But his suffering was not yet come to an end.

After having severed his artery, Grin grabbed his neck with both his paws, making it do an unnatural movement, almost making him a 180° turn, severely damaging her cervical spine, immobilizing him thus, and then he throwed him in air , causing him to fall to the ground with his head, and a loud bone snap followed his impact on the hard ground.

In a few seconds, his body had been deprived of his life essence, and lay inert, severely mutilated, into a puddle of blood.

Grin was licking the blood from his paws, almost savoring the taste. Then he turned slowly his head, to watch wolves who had ceased to massacre their victim. In all that time had not yet realized what had happened to their leader. They were growling a faucal growl, looking for revenge.

They were four against one, and seemed well trained alphas,too. Trying to taking advantage of the numerical superiority, they launched into a combined attack: two of them skidded at Grin's sides, trying to attack him from behind, while the other two would attack him frontally.

Grin stood there motionless, almost bored by their attitude, waiting for the right moment to strike back. In the moment in which the four synchronize their assault, coming close to him, Grin made a sweeping high jump backwards, then he grabbed a tree branch with his jaws, and gave himself a forward momentum, he glided with all four paws violently on wolves's heads, pushing them down and smashing them in their impact with the soil.

Blood unmingled to brain fluid came gushing from facial cavities of died wolves, their faces almost mushy by the incredible violence.

Grin smiled, he was satisfacted… but then he heard a faint cry coming from the battered body of a wolf, slighly closer to him.

"P-Please…K-kill me…P-put an end…*cough*" She said, coughing an high amount of blood "...to my suffering…." She tried then to crawl to me, but she was too moribund and weak to do so…

The sight shocked me, somehow making me come back to me…

**GRIN's P.O.V.**

"No… I'm gonna help you… please don't die…" I said, almost on the verge of tears.

"For what you've done before…this should be a breeze for you" Said a voice inside his head, a familiar voice.

I saw around me and I could see corpses of five wolves lie horribly disfigured and defaced, as if a disaster had befallen them. My tears were becoming bitter…I came to realize that I had been the cause of the extermination…

"P-please…do it…" She-wolf continued to implore in her agony, "Do it…!" said the voice inside my head, "DO IT!" She repeated, screaming this time.

Suffering was too much, internal and external: unconscious, dying or dead were around me, a dark voice nagged at me insistently, encouraging me to accomplish this evil deed.

I finally have made my decision, I wanted to put an end to her suffering, and there was only one way to do it. With resignation, I approached her and bit her neck, sinking my teeth into his flesh, and snapping her neck.

"Thank…you…" She whispered.

"NOOOOOOOO!" A voice screamed from behind me.

**Maybe you just wanna know, but i'm about in a third of the complete story... And I'm already planning to have a sequel... tell me what do you think about that... maybe with a review if you like...**

**Grinwolf here...over and out.**


	16. Awakening, Eternal Sleep

**Well, well, well...My band of followers is getting wider...A day of these together we'll conquer the world... MWHAHAHAHAH...**

**Okay, jokes aside, I know some of you are really freaking out to comprehend what's going on with this story...Or maybe it's just another self-centred attack of mine, I don't know... **

**Jokes aside (part 2), I'll let you enjoy another chapter, certain to have a positive or negative criticism from your side.**

**Do Not Forget**

**Read! / Enjoy! / Review!**

**Chapter 16: Awakening, Eternal Sleep**

**GRIN's P.O.V.**

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" A voice shouted from behind me.

One of the knocked out wolves woke up from their fainting status, and she had clearly seen my action, killing her friend, not understanding the motivation and the situation that led me to accomplish that.

Tears were floating like waterfalls from her eyes, while taking a fighting stance and all accompanied by a throaty roar. She seemed ready to kill me before I had time to explain, but another voice echoed from my left, saying: "STOP IT!"

The enraged she-wolf abandoned her combat position, and fell heavily to the ground, crying and sobbing heavily, screaming to me: "WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!…YOU'RE NOTHING BUT A…SICK…MONSTER!" Then she looked at me straight in my eyes, showing her sorrow and dolor to me.

Hurt by those words, I lowered my head, failing to look into her eyes, and I managed to produce only a stuttering whisper due to a immediate tearing: "I'm sorry…she was suffering too much…that was the only thing I could do to alleviate her sufferings…"

A lupine figure appeared at my left side, which I recognized as Oya, patting slightly my shoulder, trying to comfort me with her soft voice: " I've seen everything…You did the right thing… Those bastard wolves were torturing, making her suffer a slow and painful death…Nobody deserves it…Don't hold back, free your emotions…" After the last phrase, I hugged her tightly and I began to cry endlessly on her shoulders, spraying almost all her fur with my tears.

In between sobs, the crying she-wolf got closer to wolf's lifeless body, and said: "S-she could be healed…If only we had brought back to our pack… Gwen, my only sister..." and then she was misguided by another wave of tears, collapsing and weeping her eyes out in what was the empty shell of her sister.

She was her sister. This did nothing but add grief to me… I understood well the pain when you lose someone, but I cannot quite come close to understand the loss of a peer, let alone a brother of the same age. It had to be heartbreaking.

"S-she was…the only family I had left…And now I have no one in the world!" She continued while crying her eyes out.

**MAYA's P.O.V.**

All this uproar had to wake up the other knocked-out she-wolf, the one that was taken out of the game by Burton. She groaned, still dazed by the blow received, she was beginning to stand up, rubbing her head slightly. "Oww, what the-" She began to say, but she suddenly fell silent, looking around her surroundings.

Tortured bodies of wolves that had attacked her and her friends embellished the earth, with their bodily fluids spilled on the ground…The vision caused her a nausea attack, and she had to look away to prevent gagging. Turning her head to avoid the nauseating scene, something else caught her attention…

Two couples of wolves were there, sounds of crying from both pairs.

A pair was formed by the wolf ,with whom she had dealt with the waterfall, shaking and crying into a reddish wolf's shoulder, and the other pair was formed by her friend Pia, crying over her sister's motionless body lying on the ground, Gwen.

She ran to her. "For God's sake, what the hell just happened here?!" She thought in her head.

Pia had noticed her presence, but she had not even turned to look to her…She had yet to realize what had happened to her beloved sister… she plunged into a catatonic state, saying: "She didn't deserve any of this…She was so young…So full of life…WHY THIS HAD TO HAPPEN TO HER?" She yelled, full of contempt and anger towards life itself.

Maya was shocked, too. The last thing she expected was death of someone dear to her… Tears come forming in her eyes. Her sister was right: Why did she have to endure such agony, such a tragic fate? Life, sometimes, was very unfair.

She turned to Grin and Oya, clearly interested in having the explanations of the matter. Tears were manifested on her face, bitter teardrops, full of pain of the loss of a dear friend.

"W-what…just happened here?" She said to them.

Grin, with his still red and glossy eyes due to his weeping, decided to be brave and tell her the whole story.

"I-i…just…I don't know… after you've been knocked out, that wolf was beginning to choke one of your friends… I stopped him just in time, your friend was still alive… But then he ordered to his fellows to kill you other friend… I tried to stop them…but… He stopped me… And then I just lose control… until I killed them all and I saw your friend's suffering face…She begged me to kill her, and I felt obliged to fulfill her last wish…B-but…" He managed to tell the whole story without wavering, "…I-I DIDN'T MEAN TO HURT ANYONE!" He nearly screamed, bearing down in tears again.

Maya was bewildered…She couldn't hide a certain irritation and mistrust in him… But somehow she sensed that he was telling the truth…She could see it in his eyes…Eyes that expressed a murky past, scourged by harassments and fears…Eyes that rarely had found happiness in this world… Eyes that, in their brief existence, already beared the weight of a heavy burden…

"I-i believe y-you…" She told him, with a sad look, between compassion and empathy. Nobody should be in such a situation: having to kill someone, not because it represented a threat to his own life, but to alleviate the suffering and let him pass on to a better life.

Sometimes tragedies seemed to connect more people, compared with happy events. She seemed to have some sort of connection to that wolf, a sort of drive towards him… She didn't know if it was a good or a bad thing…

**THIRD PERSON GENERAL P.O.V.**

After some time, the sun had come at sunset, freshening the air and alleviating the plaintive howls of despair coming from cascade's apex.

Grin , trying to break the ice, proved by the intense day, said: "I-i just think we have to find a shelter for the night…"

Pia could not even look at him…she could not look at the wolf who had taken the life of her sister, for better or for worse… She whispered, without energy, tears dried her forces : "I-i don't care…I'm gonna stay here for the night…"

Maya was nearby her, trying to comfort her in the warmest way possible. "He's right, Pia, and you know that…Your sister would never want this for you…Take a cue from her vitality and her energy, let them be your sources of inspiration…Though it may be painful to lose someone, do not despair, they'll always be next to you, if you keep them in your heart…"

Oya was impressed, too. She would never have thought in words so bold and deep, she could clearly understand that she was a very uncommon she-wolf.

Pia, after a moment of reflection, decided to approve Grin's opinion with a nod directed, while she wiped her tears.

Maya smiled slighly, saying: "Very well…Now, where do we go?"

Oya proposed a simple but effective plan: "Well, we can split up and each of us can look in one direction…when someone finds a refuge large enough, produces a howl to call the other three… and then we're going arrange our hunting team…Sounds good to you?"

All wolves nodded, agreeing with her plan. So everyone walked in its own specified direction, motivated by the desire to find a shelter as soon as possible.

**Unknown P.O.V.**

I finally woke up, filled up with past's energies, ready to wake me from my long, LONG, sleep, that nailed me in the same place for almost an eternity. I was doomed to almost certain death, if it had not been for that good-looking she-wolf, equipped with a snow-white fur and with seductive liliac eyes, who took care of me. In fact, I don't know why she was so frantic to take care of me…what was the reason that has driven her to take care of me, reduced to that pitiful state. But now I was back, and I could not wait to make her pay for that… For making me a wreck.

While I was thinking back to those moments, my blood was boiling because of my extreme rage.

"I'm gonna break every little bone in your body, and tear every single shred of your body, until all that remains is dust" I thought, with my eyes splattered with anger, a twisted smile appeared on my muzzle.

"Finally…You woke up!" A white lightning came into the den, almost jumping on me. I was a little weirded out by that display of affection, but I accepted it gladly. At least someone was happy to see me.

"Uhm…well…from where do I start…Oh yeah…" She spoke in a low tone to herself

"Nice to meet you… my name's Ethel…" She said, smiling warmly and kindly

"…What's yours?" She asked me, tilting her head to one side.

"My…uh…name?" I said, trying to remember…my name…

It was quite bizzarre… I remembered the faces and actions that I and the wolves had made, for and against me…But I could not remember any of their names…including, oddly enough, mine.

"To tell you the truth…" I said, a little disappointed, "…I don't remember it at all…"

"Oh well, it doesn't matter…" She said, her tail wagging "..I can call you as you choose…"

"Uhm…I don't know why, but a sort of name kept playing repeatedly in my mind…What about…Hmm… Humphrey?" I said, making an odd frown.

She also had a strange expression on her face, as if she were thinking of a memory, but then she nodded, saying: "Fine by me…at least I can call you with a name…"

"Oh well…So, tell me another thing: why did you save me?" I asked her.

"I couldn't just leave you dying there…Everyone deserves a second chance in their lives…Don't you think?" She said with a mischievous grin, as if she knew something about me that I hadn't yet told her.

"Now that you're awake, let me show you how things are around here…" She said, approaching den's entrance and beckoning me to follow her out with a motion of her tail like-a-cloud.

I could not help but follow her in her tour.

**BACK TO GRIN's P.O.V.**

A howl rose up in night air. Origin's point did not appear too far from where I was, and I rushed to the place of the just-found shelter. We all gathered in front of a large cave that seemed uninhabited. Pia had found a great place in which we could spend the night, protected from inclement weather and dangerous animals. Now all that remains is finding food. Since Pia was exhausted, and it was my turn to hunt, since that Oya had already hunted in that day, we decided unanimously that I and Maya would have to deal with the dinner.

To tell the truth, I think it was also a good opportunity to learn more about her.

We walked side by side, keeping silent, for at least a dozen minutes, before she broke the ice.

"Mmm…I'm just thinking… if I were to hunt with someone…I would at least know his name…Don't you think?" She said.

I was somewhat abashed, how could I forget to introduce myself? My cheeks were beginning to be stained with a slight tinge of red, exposing my momentary embarassment to her.

"Well..uhh..I-i just forgot to…However, my name's Grin, and your name's… hmm…Let's see… Maya, right?" I almost stammered.

She giggled lightly, and said: "Oh…What do we have here… another Pico della Mirandola?"

I stopped and I looked at her in disbelief, absolutely not understanding what she was referring at.

She shook her head and said: "Nothing…Don't worry…"

"Damn, I have to stop to end up being so much influenced by my father's silly jokes and quotes" She thought to herself.

I shrugged and sighed, continuing to drown in my ignorance…

"However… From which pack do you come from?" She said to me, a little intrigued by my origins.

"Well…I can be considered a lone wolf…" I said to her.

"My mom always keep saying to me that all lone wolves are ruthless and unscrupulous…But…You do not strike me that way at all…" She said, looking at me.

"Well… I don't know…Is that your honest opinion?" I said, smiling and teasing her a bit.

"I don't know, I could always change my mind, you know…" She said, punching me in my shoulder.

"Oww, what was that for?" I said after that unexpected strike in my shoulder, rubbing my shoulder.

"You've tried to make fun of me…And that was your just punishment!" She said, making the bigmouth.

I couldn't help but laugh and say "Oh, we have a relentless warrior here…"

"You can put your hand on fire, featherbrain!" she joked back, laughing too, and then she quickened her pace, to almost a jog, sprinting forward. I wanted to follow her playfully, just for a little distraction from the hard day bygone… But something was caught by my nostrils, a smell of something edible penetrates them, stimulating salivation in my mouth… maybe too much…infact, drool flowed on the edge of my opened mouth while I was entranced. While I was stuck, sniffing the air intensely, I didn't notice her coming back and looking at me with an amused stare.

"Someone's hungry?" She told me, diverting my trance and bringing me back on Earth.

"I-i…uh?" I started to say, but then I noticed rivulets of drool dripped from my mouth, and I was really embarassed by my behavior, and I and I tried to wipe my mouth but without success, so she approached me, and tended a paw to me, wiping me well.

"Here, here…That's it…Now let's keep searching for dinner…and given to your reaction, you've already found something, uh? Show me the way…" She said, waiting for me.

"Uhh…ok…" I stammered, bewildered and out of phase for what had happened in a fraction of a second…I began to walk in the direction of the perfume, while she was following close behind.

**Hmmm didn't see that coming, huh? It seems that something has clicked between them... But the very real question is: It will be going to last?**

**There's only one answer: STAY TUNED, MY FRIENDS!**

**GrinWolf here...over and out.**


	17. Finally At Home

**Hey there, my dear and loyal readers, GrinWolf here's ready with another chapter, just for you!**

**Remember**

** ! ****Read ! **

** ! Enjoy !**

**! Review !**

**Chapter 17: Finally At Home**

**GRIN's P.O.V.**

After a three-quarters of an hour, finally the couple returned to the temporary lair with the loot, a freshly-caught young deer, sufficient to fill the stomach of all four.

We were all gathered around the carcass, ready to devour it due to our common starvation. But I stopped, and turned to Maya, saying:

"Well…My old friend and mentor gave me a custom that I intend to keep…Since Maya has caught this prey, my morality expected her to taste the first bite of dinner". After that, I gave her a nod and made a circular motion with my left paw, as to say "After you". Oya and Pia also seemed to agree with that custom, and nodded, but on Maya's face started to appear a pale blush. Maybe she was a little embarassed, but she did not back down and sh inflicted the first bite to the died animal, giving way to the banquet.

We all ate voraciously, finishing dinner in a couple of minutes. After dinner we decided to talk a bit, to know us better, and I decided to make the first question.

"So…Where you were going before being stopped by those…despicable wolves?" I asked them, hoping someone could answer me.

"Well…" Maya began to say "…We just finished our Alpha training and we were returning home…Those "naughty" wolves belonged to our own pack, and were sent with us for Alpha training… Training had not helped them, they became all stuck-up and troublemakers, especially under the guidance of their stupid head, Burton…I never imagined they would end up like this…To committ such atrocities…" She saddened a bit.

"I'm sorry about that, Maya…" I said to her, with an emphatetic look.

"Maybe I could just reserve this question for later…" I thought to myself, almost slapping myself in my immagination.

"…Did you just say you were going back home?" I said to them, hopefully not to open other wounds into them.

"Yep" They both said in unison with a smile on their faces, clearly enthusiastic about something.

"I cannot wait to come back and hug my parents and my brothers! I missed them so much!" Maya said with her tail wagging the entire time, her face lit up with joy.

But suddenly Pia's face darkened…Of course the thought of not having a single relative at home was getting wide in her mind, making resurface sadness and despair.

Maya seemed to have noticed her change of mood, and immediately told her "Don't worry honey, I'll ask my parents if another wolf can become part of the family…" She finished with a wink at her.

Pia babbled a little: "A-are you talking about m-me? But you're already six! How could your parents take care of me,too? I am but a useless weight…" Pia concluded, almost on the verge of tears.

Maya reassured her, saying: " Don't worry, dear, one more mouth to feed for them certainly will not be a problem…And then don't EVER say again you're useless, or i'm gonna hit your head so many times that you're going to forget who you are…You are a young, beautiful, strong Alpha that everyone wants as a friend…And I am sure that sooner or later will also be someone who will love you for who you are, wholeheartedly…"

Pia couldn't help but smile at her words, replying to her "Well, how could I go on without a true friend like you?...Or,maybe, stepsister?"

I could not help but look smug about Maya's behavior: she was so incredibly caring and compassionate towards others, a feature that had already hit me earlier.

"Whoa…So you have a large family,huh?" I asked to Maya

"Let's just say that my mother and my father are pack leaders, I have three older brothers, two of which are Alphas and one Omega, and three brothers having the same age as me, of whom I am the only Alpha"

These proportions made me thought a bit…As Valen explained to me, rarely by Alpha leader of a pack generated Omegas…It was a case out of a thousand, caused most often by the manifestation of some recessive gene present in both wolves, but here the cases were very high…Just like…

"It is possible tha-" I began to say, but I was quickly cut off (It's incredible that I am always interrupted by someone during my speech…I have to present my claims to the Executive Director of my script) by her, who ended my sentence.

"…That one of my parents is an Omega? Yes, my father is an Omega…But if you're gonna say something, ANYTHING about him, and I swear that you will not be able to hear your own voice, because i'm gonna rip your vocal chords and shove them in your hears so…"

"WHOA, calm down there!" Pia shouted in shock.

I was incredulous before the manifestation of threatening violence, especially by a person who not long before had shown totally different.

Pia, almost apologizing for her, said: "It's not her fault…The fault was of her maternal grandmother's influence…She inherited some of her…"violent" attitudes and threats…" she concluded bursting into laughter.

Maya also giggled looking at my petrified face "Ehh, she's right…But I'm still a novice compared to her…Think that merely to her menaces, she made petrified by terror two whole packs that were about to attack each other…But also made shiver and scare the hell out of my uncle, a big and brawny and brave Alpha, who fears nothing and nobody…If you make her angry, she could be really…Fearsome."

Chill ran down my body quickly, just to listen to such things about her grandma…I was shivering a little, I had not noticed yet, but it seemed they had.

"Uh, Grin, do you feel cold?" Oya asked me, having noticed my slight shimmer… I was not shivering for the cold, but because of the fierceness of Maya's grandmother, but did not want to make the figure of a wuss, so I pretended nothing.

"Yeah, a bit, but I can stay a little more, don't worry about me" I said, and she gave me a nod of understanding.

Maya then said "Well, now my turn to ask you questions…Where were YOU two going?"

"Therefore, since we are not part of a pack, Oya told me that there was a pack that willingly accepts lone wolves like us…I think it is called…uhm…(The name escapes me at the moment)…" I was thinking with all my memory, but Oya came to my rescue , saying " The United Pack of Jasper Park"

Pia and Maya's faces lit up again and Maya gleefully said : "That's our home…And it is also where we need to go! Obviously, we know the exact way to get there…It's not very far away from where we are now… We're gonna get there by noon, tomorrow…"

Then I produced a long and loud yawn, expressing to them my tiredness. "I think it's time to…" Another yawn broke in my sentence "…Sleep…What do you think, ladies?"

The yawning was spreading like wildfire, as a viral disease was affecting the tired wolves. So we decided together to go to sleep, to be ready and prepared for a long day, tomorrow. As we entered in the lair, we put close to each other, in such a way as to keep ourselves warm during the night.

"Good night, everyone!" I said, in a tired-but-excited-at-the-same-time tone. How can you blame me…After all, this would be the first time I see a whole pack!

"Good night" Said everyone else in the den, ready to enjoy a moment of rest.

Then a voice boomed "YOU… DIDN'T EARN MY LOVE…NO, YOU NEVER COULD…I'M GONNA MAKE YOU SUFFER FOR WHAT YOU DID TO ME!" This was the second time that I heard this voice, saying the same phrase…And the worst thing is that I did not know if it was in my head or someone had said those words into reality…

I shrugged, thinking that my mind was playing me some strange tricks…Maybe the previous days had put a strain on my mind, and is thus in this manner that was responding to external stimuli…

I shrugged, shook a little my face, pretending as nothing was bothering me, and I fell finally asleep.

**Humphrey P.O.V.**

Ethel showed me the area, and honestly I was not very excited about what I had seen…It seemed an area devoid of life, where the rocks and dust reigned supreme, if it were not for a small watercourse that brought a bit of life in that wasteland…I did not understand why a wolf like her would live alone, much less why she would decide to settle in this place, frankly I found it…highly repulsive.

I was used to quite different places, full of vegetation, in which flora and fauna were skillfully intertwined for creation of magnificent ecosystems…From riches to rags…But at least I was stilla live thanks to her… I feel obliged to do something for her, too…I was, sort of, indebted to her.

When we come back to her den, she turned to face me, her tail wagging: "Did you like the tour?" she asked excitedly.

I began to make a slight frown of disapproval, saying: "Well… I have to tell you the truth?...I don't really understand why do you like living here…Would you like to explain it to me?"

Ethel's face visibily saddened a bit, but she answered me: "I like this place because it is away from other wolves' possible threats, because I love the solitude, I absolutely hate other wolves's presences, but there is something in you that particularly struck me ... I do not know why, it is the first time of my own free will I get close to a wolf ... What's more, to a complete stranger…"

"Well…The least I can do to repay your care is to tell you a place where it is worth living…Not in this barren wasteland…" I said, trying to regain control of the situation.

"Uhh…Ok…But on one condition: you have to come with me" She said, blushing slightly, but given her snow-white fur, it was quite evident.

I thought about it for a moment…Actually I did not have a place to go and what to do, could just be something to pass the time ... My memory was still somewhat damaged, and I was wondering for how long I had to still remain in this state…

_(As the good Barney Stinson would say I thought "Challenge accepted!")_

"Hmm…It's okay for me, I guess" I said, tilting my head a little to one side.

"REALLY?! OH GREAT!" She screamed, while jumping and hugging me with a terrifying force, almost blocking my breathing

It looked like that her white fur was making some large,massive muscles invisible from my sight.

"He- *pant* *cough* I ca-an…b-breathe!" I murmur to her, almost choking.

"Ah…uh…Sorry about that…" She said, grinning to me…"So, where are we going to, and when are we going to leave this place?" She added, clearly excited to go on a adventure.

" I do not think before tomorrow morning ... But, by the way, where are we? So I set about the direction to take to get you in that wonderful place…"

"Hmm…" She said "I think we're in the mountainous portion, in the south of Banff, near to Millstone Peak…"

"Do you think, or you're sure about that?" I said, a little puzzled by the imprecision of her reply.

"No, no, I'm sure, I swear!" She said in a rather convincing.

"I hope she's right" I thought to myself.

"Okay, okay! Then, we have to go North , and we are going to travel for several days to get there, even for a month if we move slowly…"

"Okay…Well, since we're going to wake up early tomorrow morning, what do you think if we're going to sleep now?"

"You find myself in agreement"

Then we went into her den, drifting swiftly into sleep.

**GRIN P.O.V. , At noon**

After an entire morning of jog, I was finally beginning to perceive the boundaries of marked territories, signal that they belonged to someone, or rather, to a pack. Our jog stopped and was transformed into a fast walk…I could see the joy on his face Maya, eager to see his loved ones, and strangely also on Pia, by the fact that , perhaps, she was going to have a new family. The fact that I was paying attention to them and not to what surrounded me had already played a dirty trick in the past, but it seemed that I had not learned the lesson yet. In my moment of distraction, a wolf has fallen upon me, hidden most probably in some nearby bushes, waiting for the right time to attack me. He pinned me down, growling menacingly at me, but with a push I managed to escape his grasp, rolling sideways and also beginning to growl at him.

Maya looked closely at the wolf, eyeing him from head to toe…He had a black-greish fur, with a white underbelly and blue eyes…Her two older brothers were almost identical, except for their constitution…The wolf that loomed before them had good muscles, a clear sign that he was an Alpha…So then she exclaimed, surprised:  
"Stinky…Is that…You?"

The wolf suddenly froze, partially recognizing voice's tone, and he began to spoke: "There's only one wolf that possesses such a voice, and that belongs to my little sister May-" He didn't have the time to finish his sentence that Maya pinned him down, beginning to howl with joy, in tears and licking him all over his face, and then hugging him.

"I missed you so much!" Maya said to him, he replied "We missed you too! Weren't you supposed to be here last night? What happened to you, where the others are?...And above all, who they are?" He said, referring clearly to us.

"Well…To begin, she is Pia…You should know her well, she's from this pack, you know…" She said to him, and he widened his eyes, nodding: "Oh, uh, sorry Pia, I did not recognize you at first…" and Pia giggled a little.

"Then…" Maya continued "…They are lone wolves looking for a pack to join, and they were coming here to join our pack…" I and Oya nodded together, showing him that she was telling the truth.

"Well, about the last thing, I think it would be better if we're gonna talk directly with Mom and Dad…" She said.

Stinky nodded, perhaps realizing the gravity of the topic. So he said: "I'm gonna take you to Alpha Leader's den, so you can speak with our parents about your entry in the pack, and to avoid to being attacked by other wolves of the pack, which do not know you…Ok, then, follow me."

He said, starting his walk to the main ground, and we followed him really close.

I heard Maya exclaim: "Ahh, finally I'm back home…I cannot wait to see their faces when they're gonna see that I'm back!"

So we all walked in the forest, and I was eager to make a step forward in my life: be finally a part of a pack, and have a place to call home.

**If it was not clear, Maya is Stinky's little sister, so she is Kate and Humprey's second litter daughter...**

**GrinWolf here, i'm gonna have dinner, so...**

**OVER AND OUT.**


	18. Crossroads

**I'm very sorry about what happened, I uploaded the right chapter, then I modified something on it but I uploaded the wrong chapter with my phone... As I said, I offer my deepest apologies to you, my dear readers.**

**Here the 18th chapter for you!**

**Hello, I'm back! Did you miss me very very much? However I'm sorry for the delay, I was stucked between Diablo III and my university, so it was really unavoidable...**

**By the way, READ, ENJOY, REVIEW!**

**Chapter 18: Crossroads**

**GRIN's P.O.V.**

While we were walking together, me, Maya, Oya, Pia and Maya's brother, we could see many wolves stop their activities to turn around and look at us. Their faces were a mixture of amazement and gladness…For them the daughter of their beloved leaders was finally back from Alpha training…But soon enough contentment was soon replaced by curiosity to know who were those wolves with her, and the desire to know where her training partners, who had left with her the pack at winter's start, were.

Soon we faced with a large flat plain, where we could see several wolves, intent to carry out various activities: some of them, clearly Alphas, were dragging there a pulled down prey, to allow all the whole pack to benefit from that; other three were in the middle of a heated discussion, while a fourth was trying to mediate their disagreements, attempting to calm them down; others were playing with their pups, laughing and joking all alongside; yet there were others that , posted on a plateau not far, supervised the whole area, as sentinels , as if they were wary of anything that might disturb the balance and try to placate it, by hook or by crook. Say that situation at the same time made me feel intimidated and threatened, but also safe and secure.

Among those sentinels definitely stood out a wolf to his impressive tonnage, he really seemed to be the merger of two wolves. His fur's colour was dark red, with cream-colored shade under his chest and belly, and he had some piercing green eyes, he seemed to be one of the leaders, or ,at least, someone with a high charge in this pack, since he gave commands to the right and left to those who seemed to be his subordinates. Despite having some composure, a note of sadness could be read on his face, but maybe, who knows, it was just my impression.

While I was eyeing that wolf, I did not realize that the road was slighlty inclining, turning into an uphill that was necessary to travel to reach the Alpha Leader's den, alias Maya's parents.

I suddenly felt a nudge on the shoulder, and it was Maya, who said: "Why were you staring at my uncle Garth?"

"And how do you know I was just looking at your uncle?" I answered her with another question, willing to know how she did know.

"Well, weren't you looking at the wolfwho towers above all others, who looks like a bull by the mass, the one who strikes you most fear?" She said with confidence.

"Ummm…You're right…That giant red wolf is your uncle, then?" I said, in a tone that went from resignation to amazement.

"Yep…My aunt Lilly, my mother's sister married him…But you still have not answered my first question…Why were you staring at him?" She said to him, anxious to know.

"Well ... I seemed to feel… Sadness in his eyes…But it's probably just me" I said, a bit confused.

She giggled a bit and she told me "I highly doubt it: my parents said that since the day he married my aunt Lilly, happiness had delighted him every single day…He did nothing but repeat every day how lucky he was to have met and married a she-wolf like her…"

And immediately after surely came to her mind all the mawkishness that two lovebirds were used to, because her face bore marks of disgust.

To tease her a little, I decided to turn the knife in the wound, saying with a cunning smile "What's wrong? Unpleasant situations recur in your mind?"

She replied, a little annoyed but always jokingly, shaking her head in attempt to remove unpleasants memories "Oh, shut up!" and then she hit my shoulder.

At a certain point, we came to a halt: we finally arrived in front of leader's den's entrance.

"Ok then" Maya's brother began to talk to us "Let me get in a moment alone, so i'm gonna introduce your presence to my parents-" "Shall I come in, too?" Maya said, craving to embrace her loved ones, but he put a paw in front of Maya, saying quietly "I want to gave them a surprise, so be quiet!"

Maya's tail began to wag so furiosly, that seemed to possess its own life. Maya's brother couldn't help but chuckle to his sister's reaction, who was beginning to push him into the den to speed up procedures.

"Okay, okay! I got it!" He exclaimed quietly, and all the onlookers could not help but laugh at that funny situation.

Maya's brother finally entered the lair, and after a short time, he came out, along with four other wolves.

Two male wolves, and two females. Their description, starting from left to right:

To the extreme left, we have a young female wolf, with a predominant white colour with a black-greish chest and underbelly, a black facial mask, black paws and black ear tips, all seasoned with a pair of hazel eyes. Then we have a male adult wolf, with a black-greish fur colour with white chest and underbelly, a white facial mask with some grey shades, and a pair of cerulean eyes. Next, we have a female adult wolf with a tan fur, except for her underbelly and her chest, painted in a cream color, with a light beige facial mask in which there are two insightful and inquisitive brown eyes. And lastly, to the extreme right, we have a young male wolf, with a tan-coloured fur, blackish towards chest and abdomen, with black ear tips and a black facial mask, and he had a shade of eyes intermediate between that of its parents, his eyes possessed a greenish-amber hue.

The adult male, after giving a glance around, said something to his partner "Uh…It seemed that Maya isn't back yet…" He seemed pretty disappointed and worried.

But little they knew that Maya was lurking behind a curve, in such a way as to hide from their sight, ready to pop out all of a sudden.

"Oh well…Our son told us all…That you are lone wolves and you would like to jo- Hey, wait a second, I know you…" The male adult wolf said, giving another look to the wolves and eyeing Pia "…Aren't you, by any chance, a wo-" He was saying, squinting his eyes as if he were remembering that he's had already seen her.

Maya slammed a paw in her face for her naivety, and thought it was finally time to come out from her hiding place. She leaped into air, going to end up in a space between her family and us.

Then Maya exclaimed: "I'm back!"

Her family members's eyes seemed to glow with immense joy…It is always hard to be separated from a son, no matter what the motivation would be… They seemed to have taken on a new shape, contentment could spurt from all their pores.

All four threw themselves on Maya, first came her those who could be her brother and sister, who literally run over her, pinning her down and while her sister began to hug her, crying tears of happiness, her brother began to howl with joy, happy that his sister was finally back home, and after his sister had finished to embrace Maya, now was his moment. He nudged gently his sister, saying "Oh sis…You have no idea how we missed you…!"

Maya replied "You can not have any idea how much I missed you all, mom, dad, and you, Matt and Alanis…How much I missed the days when we used to play airily togheter… Now this will be an honor reserved for only the two of you, through your games you will have the task of keeping the peace within the pack…and I'm sure you've learned from the best" Then she looked at his father with a wink.

After those words, it was finally time to greet her parents…Maya jumped to hug her father and her mother, nudging them both, and they both patted her shoulders, saying things like "Wow… Look at you…How much you've grown!" "Don't worry, you'll always be our little puppy!" "I'm so proud of you, my daughter!" and so on.

Excitement and mirth permeated the air, tears began to appear in Maya's eyes: she almost couldn't believe they finally gathered all togheter…Also it looked like that someone was missing…

Maya turned around, peering around other familiar presences, and she did not notice any other familiar face among the wolves gathered there…So it was natural for her to ask a question.

"Mom, Dad…Where Runt, Claudette and aunt Lilly are? I can not see them around here…And yet they knew that one of these days I would have to come back home…" She said, with a thoughtful expression.

As soon as she finished the question, expressions of their faces changed radically, hovering on them a veil of sadness.

"Before we talk about these things" The adult male said "I think it is appropriate to make mutual presentations: I'm Humphrey, she…" He said, nudging the tan female next to him "…is Kate and we are one of the two pairs to govern this pack, and those ones, as you could understand…" He said, pointing to the other four wolves "…Are our children: Maya, Stinky, Alanis and Matt" When he called their names, they made a little nod with their heads , as if to say "Nice to meet you".

Pia exclaimed, before they continued to talk: "I apologize…I feel a little tired, could I go to rest a bit?"

Both Kate and Humphrey nodded, accepting her leaving. "Thank you very much! Goodbye, sir, ma'am…" Then she bowed in respect and went away from there, directed to her den.

Suddenly Maya remembered something and screamed to her while she was walking away "Don't worry about that fact, I will tell them and I'll let you know what they'll say about that!"

Pia responded her with an Okay with her paw.

"Okay…Where were we?..." Kate said, trying to regain the discourse "…Ah yes, it was your turn to introduce you" She said, adding a smile at the end.

"My name is Grin, and this is gonna be the first time that I'm part of a pack" I said, wagging my tail a bit for the thrill.

Oya then added to the discussion: "And my name's Oya, I was an Alpha leader of a pack very far away from here…" Kate and Humphrey decided to focus on her, wanting to know precisely the causes that have brought to waiver of her office…Rightly, it was for the good of the whole pack…

Kate said "Nothing personal… But how come you decided to leave your office?"

"Well…" Oya answered, trying to look for an excuse, instead of having to tell the whole story "…Because I think I finally have done my duty, and it was time that younger people would take my place…I'm eight, now…I'm a little bit old, you know… "

Kate and Humphrey both nodded, understanding clearly her reasons…Also Kate's parents decided to retire from their post because of their age…They had no objection.

"Okay, okay…Now one last question remains, and then you'll finally be free to roam around pack's territories…What role would you take in the pack, would you like to be an Alpha or an Omega?" Humphrey asked both.

Kate almost answered for Oya, saying "I think she might be helpful to us, due to her experience as Alpha leader of a pack, so I think we should name her as an Alpha…" Humphrey thought about it for a little, but immediately agreed with her, nodding vigorously.

"Yeah, Kate, you're right, she could really give us precious advices on how to handle various situations...On the other hand, recently we were put in charge, and we are still not clearly able to deal with different scenarios…" Humphrey added.

I was taken slighly aback: I had not thought at all about that choice…I needed some time to reflect about my final decision…I had always lived so far not bothering to have and to belong to a rank…I felt a conflict arise within me.

On one side, life as Omega was unconstrained , a life in which play, laugh and joke would reign sovereign, with the only obligation to appease the conflict, if there were any… But I did not cherish the idea of not being a participant of the important issues, and therefore always be put aside, being considered of less importance… On the other side, Alpha's life could be interesting and optimal for gain prestige within the pack…Live a life with a military optical and full of responsibility if one part was fascinating, from other it could be tremendously stressful and painful, not to mention the almost non-existence of free time…

I was at a crossroads that would give a substantial turning point in my life.

Kate and Humphrey, noticing my indecision, decided to grant me an extension to the decision…I really appreciated it, and this could be an indicator about their interest toward others and toward the pack, thus demonstrating their magnanimity.

"Thank you very much from all my heart, sir, ma'am!" I said, really grateful to them.

They both smiled and nodded, and then Humphrey added "We'll give you until tomorrow to make your decision…Try to make it by then"

"Yes, sir!" I exclaimed, proud for having placed his trust in me "By tomorrow I will give you the definitive answer"

"Okay then…" Humphrey concluded with a smile "…Take the rest of the day off…Feel free as well to take a look around, to become familiar with the place…With your new home"

"Yes, sir" I and Oya both said.

A second after, Humphrey shouted "Hutch! Please, come here a minute!" and almost immediately after a fairly well developed black wolf came running from from the hill that led to the main den.

"Yes Hump-…Oh…Uh…sir?" He said, stumbling a bit, and Humphrey seemed to take advantage a bit from it

"How many times must I repeat to show the respect due to superiors?" He said, with a serious tone, turned to him.

"Oh…Uhm…I'm really sorry, sir…" Hutch said with a face that showed deep regret.

Then Humphrey smiled, and began to laugh a little, saying "Don't worry, Hutch, I was just joking…However, would you mind to guide our new members here to their new homes?"

Kate rolled her eyes a bit…I was wondering what she was thinking at.

**Momentary change to KATE's P.O.V.**

I shook my head a little, thinking "Ahh what can I do with him…He doesn't think of anything but play pranks on others…Any time is good for a joke…I just hope he changes over time…"

**Back to GRIN's P.O.V.**

I noticed Kate's sigh and she elbowed him a little on his shoulder, maybe she was a little annoyed by his recent behaviour, but honestly to me it seemed sympathetic…Having a leader that is not programmed, like a machine, but who also knows how to joke ,it seemed a great thing to me. Honestly, I couldn't ask better.

"Yes, Humphrey sir!" The wolf called Hutch said to Humphrey, who nodded in agreement, then he said to us "Please, follow me, so I'll show you your new den" and started to walk down the slope, with me and Oya following him.

Then Kate shouted from behind us: "Welcome to the United Pack!" and I began to smile after that phrase…Although the correct phrase would be: "Welcome Home!"

**I'm gonna make this story a little interactive: infact you will decide if Grin will choose to be an Alpha or a Omega ... You can decide it with a review, you have until Tuesday, and its effects could be seen in two chapters...So, off to vote!**

**GrinWolf here...over and out.**


	19. Vanished, Forever

**Hey there, beautiful people! GrinWolf is again here to post a new personal lenght record! About 3.5k words in a chapter! Amazing, isn't it? At least, it's amazing for me, taking into account that Italian is my first language!**

**Oh well, I just wanna remember to my readers that in few hours we will stop the vote thing about Grin's rank into the United Pack...So hurry up and vote!**

**As I always pray you: **

**READ / ENJOY / REVIEW**

**Chapter 19: Vanished, Forever**

**MAYA's P.O.V.**

After I had seen Grin and Oya leave the space in front of my parent's den, it was finally time to talk about what happened to my fellow training members, what they intended to do with me, Pia and Gwen, Pia's died sister, and finally become aware of what has happened to my aunt Lilly and to my two older brothers, Runt and Claudette.

My parents beckoned me to get into the den, in practice, to follow them in. I obeyed without hesitation. Meanwhile my older brother Stinky told mom and dad that he would resume his normal patrol activity, and so he departed , running toward his patrol team, while Matt and Alanis decided to go play somewhere, just to be faithful to their Omega principles, having fun and keeping the peace in the pack.

So we were only three of us: my father, my mother and me. At one point they came to an halt, thinking they have walked deeply enough into the den…But their expressions when they turned back to me seemed to have regained the veil of sadness that I noted earlier, when I mentioned their names. They kept their eyes down, as if something very serious had happened to them…No, it can't be…My gaze was beginning to show signs of obvious concern, too…

My father began to speak after about ten seconds, as he was trying to find the right words "As you know, in this world there aren't only pleasant events, but there are also those unpleasant…Unfortunately,they both belong to the circle of life… There were two unpleasant incident during your absence, in the period in which you were committed to you Alpha training… One of these concerned your aunt Lilly…And strictly linked to the first one there is the second one, about your two brothers, Stinky and Claudette…"

My mother and my father looked at each other for a moment, as if looking at each other might be able to find the strength to continue their speech.

My mother continued the speech "I'll talk about what happened to your aunt and my sister, Lilly…" She sniffed a bit, trying to withhold her emotions…

**KATE's P.O.V. FLASHBACK about LILLY**

"Ouch!" Lilly said, stumbling and falling onto the soft sleet of the ground…She had fallen so clumsy that I could not hold back the laughter, and I burst out laughing.

"Still thinking about Garth, uh?" I said, keeping the smile.

She stood up, her face red as a beet…And so it clearly proved that I was right.  
But how could I blame her…They were married just a few weeks ago, and they were still in that stage all sunshine and rainbows, that didn't leave me for a couple of months. The last thing she would want is to leave her husband for a period, but it was something that had to be done… As both future leader of the United Pack, were chosen for update of new peace talks with a pack nearby, about two days walk from our…Tt was not a dangerous shoal, its members were quite peaceful, but the negotiations were necessary for the good of both packs…It seemed to me a good opportunity to bring Lilly with me…Hitherto she had lived as a carefree Omega…This could be a chance to bring her closer to the administrative and bureaucratic, and to make her earn some experience into relations herd to herd…Then life of none of both of us would be in danger…The pack was quite small…Even though they tried something, our pack would have crushed them numerically…

As I thought of all this, we were almost at the end of our second day's march, and then almost next to our destination. A smile began to make its way on my face…I was thinking about how our lives woould become as leaders of the pack, how my sister's attitudes would have accrued in that task…And then my eyes rested on her snow-white fur, while she was skipping merrily around, almost excited for that job.

I shook my head jokingly, and said to her: "Come on, Lilly, we're almost there"

She nodded with her eyes a little widened, saying "Thank goodness, my legs are begging for mercy!"

Oh…I'm just wondering if she will be able to maintain her unique playfulness with her new soon-to-be-acquired ranking…I sincerely hope so.

Continuing to walk, I could notice the sun was beginning to set, going to fall slowly through the mountains silhouetted on the horizon…

We continued walking for another half an hour, until we finally reached the pack. We were finally into Willmore Wilderness Park, into what could be regarded as a pack allocated at the foot of a big mountain…Definitely what our father Winston told us…He told us also that their leader was called Seth, and he was renowed for his wisdom and for his weighting, features that currently few wolves possess.

Before we could be able to reach the main camp, we were intercepted by a patrol guarding the borders.

"Who you are and what you want?" A male wolf that seemed in charge of the patrol almost shouted us.

A little awed ( my sister more than me), I responded him : "We are the daughters of Winston, ex-leader of Jasper Park's United Pack…And we have been sent here , as ambassadors, to discuss peace negotiations with your pack leader, Seth"

After my words, he nodded and said "We've been waiting for you…Please follow me" He said something to one of his patrol companions, maybe asking him to temporarily take the lead of the patrol, and he began to led the way.

We followed him until we arrived in front of a cave carved into mountain's base. The wolf suddenly stopped his march and motioned us to go inside, saying "Our leader is waiting for you inside… Please, enter"

We got into Seth's den…Although at the beginning it was a long, dark, lugubrious corridor, the main room was fairly lit, due to several cracks that let the sunlight filter and although the sun had almost died out, you could still see very well.

To the other end of the room there were two wolves sat on their haunches, one of those was clearly Seth, but we know nothing about the other wolf.

"Oooh look who's here!…The last time I saw them they were just puppies…And now watch them, grew up well, matured, seeking to follow in their father's footsteeps!" A male wolf said , while squaring us from head to foot.

I turned my head to Lilly to see her slightly blushing for the received compliments. I inhaled, trying to find more concentration, closing my eyes…So then I took courage and began to speak

"Well, thank you for your compliments… So, you should be Seth… Right?" I asked him

"Precisely, my dear, and you should be…Winston's daughter, am I right? But excuse my lack of memory to remember your names ... "

"My name is Kate, and her..." I said, pointing to her "…is Lilly…" Then Lilly took a bit of courage, too, and added a shy "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance"

He began to chuckle slighly and finally we debated about various issues, such as hunting grounds, possible danger coming from nearby packs…But it ended up with a one, only way, in the same way that my father had agreed with him for years: mutual immunity in exchange for mutual aid in case of attack…In this case, both packs earned something.

After concluding negotiations, sun had finally left the sky, dark night's veil was slowly descending over our heads…In fact it was getting late, and the weather was not ideal to get on the march again, headed home.

Seth offered me and Lilly hospitality for the night, and he intended to hold a banquet in honor of the renewed agreement…So this evening is destined to celebrations.

There was a voice in my mind that intimated me , even then, to return home…I didn't want to stay there to join the party, I preferred to return home…But Lilly was looking at me with pleading eyes… She rarely took part in festivities, due to her excessive shyness that always played tricks on her…Then Lilly would surely have been too tired to get back on the road…She was an Omega, after all, she was not used to withstand excessive strains like me…

So, reluctantly, I decided that we were going to stay there for the night, taking advantage of the generous offer of Seth…Not knowing at all that my decision would have resulted in…a tragedy.

**BACK to REALITY, MAYA's P.O.V.**

After that sentence, my mother burst into tears…I was shocked…I had never seen my mother cry like that before…It's as if my heart would suffer a laceration every time a tear had left her hazel eyes…My father tried to comfort her in some way, but telling those memories had the effect of re-opening the jar of emotions she had tried to close in every possible way, but with no success.

Losing a sister, a friend, could really destroy someone so much…Looking at her, wailing desperately, did nothing but bring me on the verge of tears too…I tried to understand what it meant losing a sister…

Silent tears were beginning to stream down my cheeks, without me being aware of them.

"Oh Kate…I can not see you like this, please…It breaks my heart…" My father said, trying to placate her sorrowful crying.

After five minutes, my mother regained her typical composure, the only thing that betrayed her were her bloodshot eyes, due to her intense crying session.

"I-i'm sorry…Maya…" She managed to say to me, in between some little sniffles, but then I hugged her, telling her calmly "Mom, if it grieves you so much, I do not need you to tell me the whole story…"

She looked at my face, saying "I think it's fair that you know the whole truth…After all, there should be no secrets in the family" I nodded, clearly understanding her point of view…And also because I know well her stubborness…When she put something in her head, there's little you can do to remove her from her intentions…

My father also made her smile with one of his funny signs… They were just made for each other…

My mother decided that it was time to take up the story from where it was interrupted…

**Returning to KATE's P.O.V. FLASHBACK about LILLY**

The pack was not very big, as I previously said, there were at most fifteen wolves…The celebration began well: numerous succulent preys had been captured and dragged into what should be the main ground, ready to be eaten…There were three elks, six groundhogs, four rabbits , and differents fruits and vegetables, perhaps put there to adorn preys… Who in his right mind ever would eat fruit and vegetables?...Well, actually they exist in my pack…Vegetarian wolves, simply against nature…

We sat near Seth on top of a low peak, but high enough to allow all the wolves present there to see us, and he began to speak to wolves of his pack, saying:  
"My dear brothers and friends, we are gathere here today…To celebrate..." Joyous howls rose up from the lupine crowd below.

Then Seth continued "Calm, calm, my friends, you'll have plenty of time to be spirited, after my speech" trying to pick up the thread of the discourse.

"As I was saying, tonight we will celebrate the renewal of our agreement with Jasper Park…No longer exclusively with Western Pack… But the Western Pack merged with the Eastern Pack to form a new pack… The United Pack of Jasper Park…And we are and will be their allies, in the good and bad times!" Another wave of howls of joy, followed by hops, spreaded in the mass of wolves watching us.

"Tonight, to take part in the celebrations, there are also two daughters of Winston…"He said, pointing his paw to me and Lilly "… My dear old friend as well as the ex-leader of Jasper Park's Western Pack…Please, do not be rude with them, and, I recommend you, let them feel as if they were at home…Now, without further ado, let's start the feast!"

After that, Seth gestured us to follow him to the banquet, and when we finally arrived to elk's carcass, he said to us: "Our ancient customs require that guests start the celebration, then to them is reserved the honor of the first bite" He then nodded, and sit, waiting for us to make our move.

I was impressed by all the kindness shown to us…Now I undestood why our father was Seth and his people's friend, they have a gratitude towards others that few packs could boast of possessing…Yet, despite all these expressions of thankfulness and kindness, I could not take away from me that uncomfortable feeling…It was as if hovered over me the feeling that something was going to happen…

I decided to shrug it off again…But then it occurred to me a question for Seth, and I made manifest to him my doubt: "Don't you use here a division into classes of Alphas and Omegas?"

Seth sniggered a little and then said to us: "No…Here everyone is free to do as they wish…Ours is a small pack, it does not need a lot of organization, just the essential…Everyone is able to act both as a Alpha or as a Omega, on occasion…Therefore, if you're making problems for the ranks, do not absolutely worry about it"

He concluded his speech with a warm smile, one of those that my father used to make me…

Lilly and I looked each other and then we took courage, giving the first bite into the carcass of the elk before us.

After that, all other wolves took part in the feast, biting and tearing the flesh of prey captured previously.

While we were eating, Lilly began to thirst, so she asked Seth where she could find a source of water nearby, to quench her thirst.

He stopped eating for a second to answer her question, saying "Uh, there's a river flowing west from here, is not too far from here, about ten minutes walking…" He said, resuming then eating.

Lilly nodded and said , almost anticipating the feeling of the fresh water in her throat "Okay, then I'm going to drink there!"

I turned my head to her and asked her "You want me to come with you?"

She giggled a bit and answered me "Don't worry about me…What could possibly happen to me? (typical phrase uttered before any disaster, acting as a magnet for calamities…Good job, Lilly!) I can, at most, fall into the river…And in that case it would be a perfect opportunity to make a cool, refreshing bath!" She said, with her naive witticism, but deep down I knew she was right… After all, she would become a leader of United Pack, too…It was not necessary (at least not anymore) to be constantly breathing down her neck…She was a adult, healthy and vaccinated she-wolf

"Okay…" I said to her, chewing and swallowing mouthfuls of tender and juicy meat "…I will try to save yourself a bit of meat for when you get back, okay?" She nodded and began to walk toward the water source indicated to her by Seth.

I looked at her to leave the main ground, and then I resumed to feast on the flesh like the other wolves.

**Time jump – Fifteen minutes later**

After we had finished dinner, was the time, according to Seth, who Omega gave show with their jokes and their comic and funny stories…And thus the cheerful chatter that had filled the air turned into a momentary silence, to allow the Omegas of the evening to be able to prepare their performances.

But the silence was torn by an inhuman scream…A scream coming exactly from the direction where the source of water was in which Lilly wanted to drink… my instinct took over and I ran in that direction, not taking care of the other wolves… Another scream followed the previous, this time I felt it clearly...That agonizing scream belonged clearly to Lilly.

Adrenaline was being produced like torrents in my body, making me run at high speed without fatigue might interfere… every single second could make the difference between life and death of one of the creatures I cared of present on this Earth…My beloved sister Lilly.

The closer I got, the more I realized that after that second lament was not produced any other sound…Which could mean only one thing…

"No, it can't be…" I repeated to myself as I was running, trying to reach her.

Sound of rushing water began to be perceived by my ears, sign that I was close to my destination, and to Lilly…

When, as in the race, my right front paw impact in a liquid substance, and I thought to myself "It is not possible, during these days it has not rained here, it is not possible that rain has formed a puddle here…"

As my usual, but unfortunately in this case, I was right, it was not water, but… It was blood. And, judging by the wails heard before, it must also belong to Lilly.

more time I was spenting to look at the blood, thick, red, more anger took hold of me, an anger that I felt against me, for had being so reckless, and both against of the being that had made such a mess towards my beloved sister…

I came out from behind a bush, and a terrible scene parried before my eyes: A slaughterhouse had happened there. Blood profusely flat-spotted everywhere throughout all the space in front of the river, river bank was darkly tinged red…Footsteps of paws clearly of a crawling wolf were etched in that abundant blood mass…The strangest thing of all was the presence motionless body of a wolf lying on its side, but the body of this wolf was totally devoid of wounds, and clearly that blood did not belong to that wolf at all.

I rushed towards the wolf, probably thinking he might know something about my sister, but I noticed in contact with his skin was cold, too cold, like a body without life... I tried to check his heartbeat, but I did not get any positive response… That wolf was dead.

so I turned around, hoping to find my sister Lilly… I tried several times even shouting her name…But no replies…Then wolves of Seth's pack finally reached me, asking me what was wrong…And then they were stunned by the scene…After a minute, they tried to recognize that dead wolf, but no one seemed to know him…And finally we began to search for Lilly together…

"Where are you, Lilly! I pray thee, come out!" I was thinking, almost on the verge of tears… It seemed absurd, but in a week of searching we were not able to find a single trace of Lilly…It was as if she had never come with me there, yet I wondered how she managed to disappear quickly in such conditions… But above all, because she was gone from me, and without me…

I stayed a week in that pack, every day used to search relentlessly for my sister… My parents began to worry about us, too… We had to be back at home a long time ago, now… so they sent another expedition, in which my father was the head, consisting of him, Garth, Humphrey and Hutch, while my mother and Can-do stayed at home, to look after the United Pack. They wanted to be aware of the causes that had kept me and Lilly so long there… When they learned about Lilly's mysterious disappearance, and her quite likely death, they swooped all in a state of deep depression… The one who was hit hardest was undoubtedly Garth… We stayed there together another week for desperately trying to find Lilly, and Garth devoted himself body and soul, neglecting the feeding, his appearance, motivated solely by the desire to find his beloved… But his ardor was never rewarded.

**BACK TO REALITY, MAYA's P.O.V.**

"This episode was the last straw that finally did break down your grandmother Eve...Because of her age, she has not withstood the emotional blow, and her body succumbed…Now she is in a better world, too…" My mother concluded, tears coming again to cloud her eyes.

The pain that hung in den's air was unbearable… Tears came down from faces with the same ease with which the air entered the lungs. My strong grandmother was gone…My peaceful and loving aunt Lilly was gone, too…

I hugged tightly my parents, bringing togheter our bitter tears, unable to say anything.

_Sometimes, silence is worth a thousand words._

**And that, my folks, was a quite sad end of a chapter...But remember, not all evil comes to harm... Oh I just want to know if you like the cover image that I put for "A Tale of Grin"... Maybe letting me know with a review!**

**GrinWolf here...(I'm dying of sleep...)...over and out.**


	20. Dual Departure

**Hey there, GrinWolf's already here, as many of you will surely have imagined...Anyway, I apologize for the brevity of this chapter, but it contains key elements for understanding the absence of Runt and Claudette...Maybe they will come back, later, or maybe they won't...**

**You know, there was something I was asking to myself...There's something you don't like about my FanFiction story? There's something you like? You know, as I sometimes repeated in this fiction, I do not count positive and negative things as two separated entities, but rather as two sides of the same coin...Sure, it is not pleasant to hear bad things about their own work...But I'm the type of person who tries to learn from his own mistakes...But still, if you do not make me notice these things with a critical eye, I cannot get better...**

**Therefore, I authorize you to write any sort of comment, ****I will accept them with philosophy and willingly.**

**Now I leave you to read the twentieth chapter. **

**Peace and love, bros, AND DON'T FORGET:**

**READ / ENJOY / REVIEW**

**Chapter 20: Dual Departure**

**MAYA's P.O.V.**

After what seemed to have been hours of silence, time had come to know the fate of my two older brothers, Runt and Claudette.

I decided to want to complete my tour of emotions…so with a low tone of voice, torn by the just-learned news, I asked them of my siblings.

My father decided to speak…He let out a long sigh and began to talk to me, while my mother had fallen asleep, due to her strenuous crying.

"Well…" He began to say me, looking at me with the eyes of my same color, slightly reddened because of crying "…After both knew of the death of your aunt, Runt decided of his own volition to leave the pack, because, as you know, he had always expressed his desire to travel around the world, fascinated by the story of the adventures of me and your mother in Idaho… And also because he could not bear to stay in that pack that brought back the memory every time his dead aunt Lilly…They just had a special bond, two of them… She had become for him a dear friend and confidant… It could also be an opportunity to broaden his horizons…

Although your mother and I did not agree at the beginning, subsequently we decided that if that decision could make him happy, then we would have gladly accepted it:we were ready to let him go for his own good. One evening, however, a furious quarrel was unleashed, just the evening before his departure, when we decided to make known his imminent departure to the entire family…"

**HUMPHREY's P.O.V.**

It was a cold late winter afternoon… I was watching the herd from high cliff overlooking the snowy plain, and I was thoughtfully…I was probably aware that this could be the last time I saw my dear son, Runt… It made me a bit melancholy, but also I felt joy for him: finally his sense of adventure finally was a step away from being satisfied…

Suddenly, a voice coming from behind me yelled at me…It was Kate's voice… Undoubtedly she possessed a natural grace and poise, though sometimes she suffered the typical behavioral influences of her mother… And this episode was clearly one of those.

She infact yelled to me in a angered tone of voice: "Dinner is ready by a quarter of an hour now! How long does it take you to come to dinner?! Next time you come so late, I swear ..."

My eyes widened, shocked by such ferocity towards me…But then I remembered her mother's behaviour… Two plus two is always four…And I began to chuckle, padding into our den.

When I came in, I could make out the figures of six wolves, four of whom were adult wolves, belonging to my wife and my love, Kate, who was looking at me wide-eyed and menacing, and other three belonging to my childen's first litter, Stinky, Runt and Claudette.

The other two smaller figures instead belonged to my two little Omegas, Matt and Alanis.

They were all waiting for me to start dinner.

"Come on, dad, we're starving!" Little Matt said to me,with pleading eyes, also obtaining an approving nod from his sister Alanis, sign that she was starving herself.

Their older brothers could not help but laugh, and Runt intervened, too, saying "Oh yea dad, they're right! Hurry up!..." concluding with a teasing smile.

"After all, this would be, perhaps, our last dinner togheter…" Runt let out these words, and everyone's head, but mine and Kate's, turned toward him, slightly tilted because of unbelief.

Stinky decided to speak on behalf of everyone, asking him "What did you mean with "Maybe this would be our last dinner togheter?"

I and Kate sighed together, and she began to speak: "Boys, we wanted to announce after dinner, but someone…" she stopped for a second, for the time necessary to give a glare to Runt, who snorted slightly "…Just can not keep his mouth shut…" She concluded, and then I began to explain them… Desire to know was clearly written all over their faces, and I don't blame them at all.

"Your brother Runt has exposed a request to me and your mother a request…At the beginning we did not agree, thinking it was too risky for him to undertake such a journey…But in the end we agreed that maybe it's better that way... Your brother took the decision to abandon the pack and become a lone wolf, execute his bold desire to travel the world…And he established his departure tomorrow…Know that your mother and I are proud of you, son, and whatever you decide to do, we will always be by your side…" I concluded with a warm smile directed toward him.

Despite being an Omega, I put faith in him…He had been shown on numerous occasions that he knew how to deal with the widest range of situations…But he was big enough to make his own decisions.

But something sudden and unexpected shocked irreparably the quiet into the den.

Claudette jumped up and slammed Runt with a paw over his face, making him yelp in pain and sending him to the mat…Tears flowed copiously from her hazel eyes, and she shouted to him, with an unheard ferocity:

"YOU…HOW COULD YOU NOT TELL ME ANYTHING ABOUT THIS…! I DON'T MEAN ANYTHING TO YOU? WE, BROTHERS, DO NOT COUNT ANYTHING FOR YOU? YOU'RE JUST A FILTHY SELFISH…AND I THOUGHT YOU WERE DIFFERENT FROM OTHER WOLVES, THAT YOU WERE SPECIAL…HOW WRONG I WAS!"

So she said, without having any response from his beaten brother, lying on the ground due to impact's force, with his eyes lowered almost in shame…He could not even look at his sister in her eyes, let alone talk to her.

Petrified looks spreaded into the den, because of the speed and the unpredictability of Claudette's reaction.

**Back to present, MAYA's P.O.V.**

"So she turned and ran away from the den… Determined to never return back…She left the pack in the same evening, she didn't come back to even finish dinner…She had not done anything but throw guilt on Runt, for not telling her of his departure…And now that poor thing had left the day after her departure with only one desire, to be able to hug his sister one more time and apologize to her…" My father's face frowned, his blue eyes showed a blatant sadness… He had losed two sons in one fell swoop…My brothers, gone due to a misunderstanding…

"But…" My father said, confident and with a smile that was beginning to form on his face "…I'm sure they will come back safe and sound at home one day, and I hope that day comes before I die ... In order to be able to embrace them at least one last time…"

I added to his speech "I'm sure they will come back home one day, too…"

Time had elapsed relentlessly, with the hourglass of time , grain by grain, never to return back…Their discussion went on for a long time, the sun was almost completely set…And that meant one thing…It was almost time for dinner…As if my stomach had perceived my thoughts, gave a low growl.

My father, with his famous sarcasm, lost no time in making his umpteenth joke, saying to me "Uh-oh, is there a little wolf inside you that's hungry, too?"

I rolled my eyes and answered him "Ah. Ah. Good joke"

"Hey, hey little lady, do not make that face…Do not forget that you are also half-Omega…You should be used to it by now" He said, patting me on my head, shuffling my head mane.

"Ohh, dad, stop that…You know I HATE THAT!" I said to him, trying to stop his paw, but it was completely useless…Soon his paw passed from my head to my hips, with the intention to tickle me to death.

Tickling was my only weak point…You could scratch me, pinch me, slap me, but nothing gave me the same effect as tickling…I became completely defenseless, and my father knew well.

I could not restrain my laughter in any way, and they were so loud that they woke instantly my mother from her resting slumber, by literally making her blowing up in fear.

"Wha-what is happening here?!" She said, a bit concerned, but when she saw the scene before her, she softened: his husband was playing with her daughter…

I and my father saw her blowing up, and began to laugh together, arousing my mother's curiosity: "What are you two laughing at?" She said.

My father and I looked at each other, knowing her touchiness, we did not pretend to know anything…

"I?" We said both at the same time… My father shrugged, and I said "I don't really know what you're talking about mom…"

"Ah…Liars!" She said, and began to chase us playfully… So I and my dad dashed out of the den , determined to not let her catch us… And I playfully added: "Last one that arrives at main ground for dinner, it will eat only scraps and bones!"

"Hey, no fair!" My father yelled at me, knowing his limitations in the race.

So we were all three headed to our dinner, with a hunger typical of a wolf.

_Or at least what we thought was supposed to be our dinner._

**As someone would say now...Bam! Ahahah I'm sorry, I could not resist the temptation, I hope you can forgive me.**

**Now it's time to bring Diablo's sheep to pasture...Getting ready for RoS! (Anyway, if someone plays in Europe, he/she could send me a PM in which he/she could write his/her Battlenet Gametag, so we could play together!)**

**GrinWolf here...Over and out.**


	21. Grin, The Alpha

**Hallo, my dear folks...Finally had arrived another chapter of "A tale of Grin"... I suggest to all of you registered users who want to have a chat with me to come to HLK forum...I just got there yesterday, and I found some very nice peoples...**

**Anyways, no more delays, I'm gonna let you read and enjoy this chapter...**

**Please, let me know what do you think about my story, I'd really love that, maybe with a review, or a PM, or a chat in the forum...**

THANK YOU!

**Chapter 21: Grin the Alpha**

**MAYA's P.O.V.**

Me, my father and my mother were directed to what should be the place of the entire pack's dinner, but when we reached the place, dismay grew on our faces…Nobody was there…

"Where the heck did everybody go?" I thought to myself, getting slightly worried…Then I remembered what Grin did unconsciously to those who were my training partners, but I didn't say that part to my parents, out of fear that his characteristic they would have kicked him out from the pack instantly… She said to her parents that they wanted to harass her and her friends, and Grin and Oya intervened just in time to avoid the worst...but unfortunately, an her friend, Pia's sister, was brutally beaten by those beasts, and to stop them they had to kill them…They had become ruthless, and dying was the only thing that they deserved…

I shook from my thoughts, planning to concentrate on what to do… But suddenly a wolf jumped on me, tackling me, completely taken by surprise…I began to growl, thinking that he was someone that wanted to hurt me…I recognized him just in time: it was Grin…With a warm smile plastered on his face, directed towards me… Well, just staying in that position made me blush madly, but fortunately, thanks to my fur, was barely visible. He then screamed: "Surprise!" and then all the other wolves appeared, led by my brother Stinky, who said "Welcome back home!" and an howl of joy arose in the wolfy crowd. Last wolves to enter into main ground were dragging dinner…There was so much meat to feed an entire regiment!

Grin then let me stand up, and I could hear a giggling sound coming from my parents…Clearly they have organized this thing behind my back…the thing that surprised me is that Grin has also take part to this surprise…

I couldn't help but smile at this demonstration of affection towards me… And leave some tears of joy, too…

I said to them "Thank you all for this wonderful surprise…You really made my day!"

They were all there: Kate, Humphrey, Stinky, Matt, Alanis, my grandpa Winston, uncle Garth, even Tony, Grin, Oya, Pia, and all the others, just like my father's dear friends, Salty, Shakey and Mooch, Reeba and Janice, while Hutch and Can-do were dragging the last carcasses into the clearing…

Everything was set for the party…But before, my grandpa Winston decided to make a speech: "I know that all of you know me…And also you know very well that she is my sweet, adorable niece…" He began to say, looking at me, making me blush "But I also know that, from now on, she's gonna make me really proud of her, and I'm sure she will prove an excellent member of this pack…" He concluded with a smile "…Let celebrations for the return of my beloved niece begin!"

A wolf jumped ominously, camouflaged in the joyous crowd, waiting for a good time to strike… He tackled me down roughly, saying "WHY DID YOU KILL MY SON? HE WAS A GOOD GUY…HE HAD NEVER HURT A FLY… I DEMAND A WORTHY ANSWER FOR THAT!" He said, began to growl to me…Yet at the same time Grin gave him a shove, making him flinch…His anger was too much, he was ready to hit hardly Grin, but suddenly my dad spoke in a tone I've never heard before: he really looked like a Alpha leader… I guess my grandma and grandpa thought him some Alpha leader tricks…

"YOU, STOP IT IMMEDIATELY!" He commanded with an imperious tone of voice…But it didn't bother them…

Grin so began to speak to him "You're Burton's father, right?" , and he nodded, keeping his guttural growl and showing his teeth

"She didn't kill him, I did…He, with his gang, had done terrible things to some poor wolves…Pia's sister died for his fault…He was a pathetic excuse of a wolf, a scum among wolves…Honestly, I'd be ashamed to be called his father…And if I had not stopped him, I do not want to imagine what he would do the poor girls, here…" and he turned, pointing at me and Pia.

Grin's explanation made him go on a rampage…With bloodshot eyes he rushed upon him…Present were baffled to hear that…Truth finally had come to light… A moment of joy has turned upside down instantly…I closed my eyes, do not want watching what would have happened.

**GRIN's P.O.V.**

I saw Burton's father jumping, trying to leap at me…I noticed that anger had clouded his mind, it was time to think rationally and beat him on this… I could see him approaching me in slow-motion, waiting for an appropriate time to counterattack him… He opened his jaws, trying to bite me in the neck from left… Perfect timing.

I just raise violently my left paw, hitting him in the throat, and my ascending paw's movement give him an harsh blow, that stunned him momentarily, gasping momentarily for air, he bring his paws to his throat…Just when I thought, I gave him an headbutt in his chest, pushing him back and sending him straightly crashing into the ground, several feet away from his previous location… Then I stopped, willing that others would grab him.

As I looked on their faces, they were somewhat stunned… The huge red wolf, Maya's uncle, suddenly ordered to his subjected to bring to him Burton's father… Perhaps for a punishment.

While they managed to bring Burton's father to him, he turned and said to me: "I'm impressed, kiddo…There are not many wolves here that can stand up to him…He's one of our best fighters…But, don't worry, his reckless act will not be left unpunished" He finished with a hint of a smile.

Then I nodded in approval to him, smiling a bit too.

"Well…We are going to take care of him a bit away from here, so you can continue with your party, okay?" He added, saying to the others

Humphrey and Kate nodded, and Humphrey said: "Thank you, Garth, we trust your judgement…I recommend you to choose a proper punishment for his actions"

Garth nodded, and began to pad away with his guards who carried the unconscious body of Burton's father away from there.

Then Humphrey turned to me and said: "Well, it was unexpected, but it seemed to me that your actions have spoken clearly for you…Your fighting abilities will certainly be valuable to help the pack through many situations, I'm pretty sure about that…Without further ado, I think you can enter in our pack as an Alpha-fledged…I know that I gave you some time to decide, but it feel right about that…What do you think about it?"

"Uhmmm…" I said, thinking about it… Effectively, Valen's teaching could be very useful to help the pack in any possible way…And this also meant ensuring the protection of all the members of the pack, including those most dear to me…We say that free time would become a luxury, but, all in all, it was a price worth paying for…Especially for someone…

I began to slighly blush, and answered him: "…Okay, I accept your offer to be an Alpha!" I ended up with a grin.

"Perfect!" Humphrey said to me and then turned to presents "…And well, let's continue from where we left off!... Oh, I was almost forgetting about that, tonight there's gonna be a special session of Moonlight Howling…Come along, you're not gonna regret it!"

A loud chorus of howls erupted from the mob, expressing their joy for the organized event.

"Uh…A moonlight howl? I've never take part to one before…I wonder how it works…And I wonder if she would like to go with me…" I thought to myself

But then I decided to postpone what to do, focusing more on the succulent and plentiful dinner waiting for me…

**Other HUMPHREY's P.O.V.**

Me and Ethel were traveling through what seemed to be the last portion of that sad wasteland that she used to call home… Until then, no one thought came back in my mind, even if I had this deep hatred against a woman…Her face was clear to me like a reflection in water, but I wasn't still able to remember her name… Suddenly, she came to an halt… I was going to ask her what was going on, but she put a paw on my mouth, keeping me in silence…I just whispered to her "What's going on?" and then she didn't care to answer me…It seemed that she was focused on something in front of her…But there seemed to be nothing.

"Stop…IT!...CALM DOWN, beautiful…There's nothing you can do from there…AH!" She spoke in a shouting whisper, and that made me worry about her…So I shake her, telling her: "Hey, snap out, Ethel, what's going on with you?" and she seemed to snap out from her momentary trance…

"Uh, oh, I'm fine…I just guess I'm extremely tired…Why don't we find a den in which we could spend the night?" She said turning to me, looking at me with her lavender eyes, still a bit dazed…Indeed, it was getting late, a bit of rest would have been useful…but that her bit strange behavior began to make me suspicious…I began to doubt about her normality.

**Back to GRIN's P.O.V.**

After I gorged for good, don't knowing anything about Moonlight Howls, I decided to catch some drifts from someone, and well, the only one who seemed quite friendly and frank to me was Humphrey, buti t was indeed a bizarre situation… I'm gonna take some advices from the father of the girl I wanted to invite to Moonlight Howl…I'm weird, right?

Oh well, I do not think I'm going to tell him my clear intentions, to invite her daughter…As far as I know, he could end up killing me…Ahah, how pathetic, being killed from lady's father during my first Moonlight Howl…

So, I took him aside for a moment, after he had finished dinner, and asked him my doubts. He laughed a little at first, but then he said to me:  
"Well,so it's true that you've never been in a pack before…I'm gonna tell you some driftes, but remember…" His tone of voice lowered to a whisper"…This is gonna be a secret between you and me, okay?"

I nodded, eager to learn his tricks…And judging by his wife's beauty, must also have a high coefficient of success…

I become all ears.

**So...What Humphrey's gonna unconsciously tell to his daughter's probable companion of the evening? STAY TUNED TO KNOW his..."DRIFTS"**

**GrinWolf...Over and Out.**


	22. Misunderstandings

**Hey there, I'm again here (did you miss me?) and special thanks go to my known and unknown readers who support/being indifferent to my whole story, YAY! **

**I just take some time to reorganize my thoughts and story plot...About thinking exactly who would die and who would survive to an impending apocalypse that would soon fall down on the United Pack...**

**Aaaaaanyway, I wanna just remember you that if you wanna have some chat with me or with other writers much more talented and better than me, you could visit HLK's forum...You won't regret it! :D**

**No More Delays: Just Read and Enjoy aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand Review, please!**

**Chapter 22: Misunderstandings**

**GRIN's P.O.V.**

I was all hears, wanting to know Humphrey's secrets… I sat on my haunches, waiting for him to began to speak…

I saw him sigh slighlty, then he raised his muzzle to the sky, maybe in attempt to clarify his thoughts…Then he looked at me and began to say:

"Well, to tell you the truth, luck was by my side when I met Kate…Not to brag me, but I already knew we would become more than friends…I know that at least since the first time I laid my eyes on her…"

While Humphrey was speaking, I saw a tan figure slowly approaching from behind Humphrey, keeping its movements silent… I recognized her as Kate…I thought this could be pretty funny, so I didn't tell Humphrey about her presence and I let him continue his speech while she was listening.

"…She was so beautiful and magnificent…Sometimes I think I don't deserve her…I'm just an omega, you know…" His face had frowned a bit… But then his eyes widened, beginning to smile to me "Oh but I was just forgetting the main reason about why we're here…For some sentimental advices!"

I could see Kate shaking her heaad and rolling her eyes slighly, but she couldn't think of what his husband was going to tell , and began to smile about that.

I was grinning, seeing the entire scene…Hoping he wouldn't say something regrettable and literally blowing up his marriage…

"Sooo…" Humphrey said, resuming his speech, "Who's the lucky girl, huh?" he said with a mischievous grin plastered all over his face, elbowing my shoulders a little.

Redness took complete possession of my face to that sudden question, making me lowering my face to stare at the grassy ground…

"Well… huh… she's…well…" I began to stammer, and that produced a snicker into Humphrey, who immediately said to me "Hey calm down boy! It's not necessary you have to tell me…Or should it be?" His eyes began to narrow…

Panicking a little, I thought of an immediate solution that would led away any suspicions from me… and I said "Well, I'd like to invite…Pia to the Moonlight Howl!" I said, maybe in a rather unconvincingly manner… But he seemed to not understand my lie…

"Ahh Pia, yes…I know her, she's my daughter's friend…Well, very good choice, man" He winked at me.

I blushed slighly, and then he continued "Basically, Moonlight howl works like this: you're gonna invite your young lady to it, then you get prepared in a very appropriate way, just get a bath and get your mane combed… And then you met her at the base of the Howling Rock over there…"

He turned and pointed in the opposite direction where Kate actually was, indicating a slightly high mountain relief that seemed to stretch to the just-appeared moon in the sky. Indeed, it would be undoubtedly an excellent place where to admire, contemplate and howl at the moon.

Humphrey turned back to me, and continued to say: "Well, about how to win the heart of a woman, you have to know, I always had plenty of arrows in my bow…" Then he received a smack behind the neck and he nearly jumped.

"Ahh, so would you like to show me these arrows? Or you shot them to someone else?" Kate stood face to face with him.

Humphrey began to babble a bit, slighly shocked "H-hey Kate, I was just kidding, you know…And then, I used all the arrows with you, my love…" And then he licked her cheek, causing her to blush slightly…

Kate then nuzzled back Humphrey, showing her affection and her appreciation.

I was slighly chuckling due to that scene, then he turned again to me, and seeing me chuckling, said to me "What's so funny, son?" and then I regained instantly my seriousness and answered "Uhh… Nothing, sir."

"However, the only advice I can give you is…Be yourself…You need to be appreciated for who you are, and not for what you look like…And, even more important, wolf whom you love has to know who you really are, and love you for that…Do not ever forget that, son."

Then Kate smiled and remembered him "Dear, it's almost time to go…Wouldn't you prepare for our special howl?" Humphrey looked slightly surprised and said her "Oh, Kate, you're absolutely right!..." then he turned to me and said "See you there, young man!" and then they departed fastly.

Then another problem hit me… Maya's parents are going to be present to the Moonlight Howl…Damn!

It is possible that, after solving a problem, it always appear another one? Bah…

Well, at this point , I decided to take my chances… In the main ground I recognized Pia padding into one direction, and I stopped her, asking her where Maya had gone, and she pointed into a direction, slightly giggling, maybe thinking that he would surely ask Maya to came with him to the Moonlight Howl…

I began to jog into direction Pia told me, eager to reach her as soon as possible to ask her if she wanna date me…But the closer I got to her, the more I began to feel…sheepish.

"Maya, where are you?" I called her in the silent forest, hoping for an answer.

Then I came to a stop, noticing two wolves talking and laughing a bit… I could only hear a joke's end and some feminine giggling, then a male voice said clearly to her: "I'll see you at the base of the Howling Rock, huh?" and then I saw the female figure making a nod… A she-wolf with an unique fur color, an ormolu-like one…

Well, that last action made me completely stop also my heartbeat, too… She already said yes to another wolf...I was really too late… Then I saw her turning her beautiful visage to look at me, due to my previous calls, and she decided to approach me…

I wanted with all my stenght to force myself to smile at her, but…What I've just seen tore my heart…

I just sit back, looking down and my ears lowered…She seemed to understand that something was wrong with me, and began to say to me with a smile "Hey, what's the matter of that long face?"

I tried to pretending nothing, and play my part "Uh, no, it's nothing…Have fun with that guy at Moonlight Howl…okay?" Then I made her the fakest smile I could make in that situation…And I decided to pad back into my den, before emotions would get the upper hand on me… But she suddenly stopped me, placing herself in the middle of my taken road, saying to me:

"Hey…He was just a friend, I was going to meet him and other friends there…Would you like to come with us,too?"

My face turned red as a beet for that misunderstanding, and I began to stammer slightly "Oh-uh…Okay!"

She noticed my behaviour and began to giggle, putting her paw over my cheeks and feeling them burning "Oh, your cheeks are so hot! Maybe you should cool off yourself…" There was a little pond nearby, but I realized that too late…She pushed me until I literally felt into the pond… She giggled then began to run away, screaming to me "Dude, prepare yourself and when you got ready, let's meet there, okay?"

I decided to stay there and have a bath, answering to her loudly "Yeah, ok, let's meet there…But remember, I will have my revenge someday!"

I could hear a faint giggling sound, most likely from her. I sighed and decided to finally have a bath… I just brushed all my dirt off me, wiping in the best possible way…After all, I didn't want to make a bad impression…Especially for Maya…" Thinking about her made me blush unconsciously.

"SOOOOOOO" A male voice thundered from behind me…I was really startled from that stealth assault on me…My breath had stopped for fear… I turned and I saw that wolf with which Maya had spoken before…

"Man, you wanna make me DIE?" I said him with a clear expression of fear developed all over my face

"Hey, you're Maya's new boyfriend, huh? She couldn't help but talk around the clock about you… Geez, sometimes she's REALLY annoying…" He made an annoyed frown, rolling his eyes

"Did he just asked me if I were Maya's…what?" I thought , extremely embarassed, and I just brought my redness to a new level of colour…

"Well, I'm not Maya's boy-" I began to say, but he seemed to be a really smart one, and cut me off, saying with a mischievous grin "But, I bet you would like to… Am I wrong?" He widened his grin even more.

"Well…yeah, I would really like to, with all my heart…" I said to him, with a sheepish smile.

"However, name's Wilson, nice to meet you…You are… Grin, right?" He closed his eyes, trying to focus my name.

Then I saw him shook his head, saying "Damn, How did I forgot his name for a moment…Due to her obsession, I should know everything about him!" He face-pawed himself, and I couldn't help but chuckle to his sudden monologue.

He turned back to me, saying "As you clearly have guessed, yeah, I'm an Omega…But I knew Maya since we were little pups, she had been like a sister to me and let me set things straight…" He assumed a menacing frown

"If you're gonna hurt her in any way, let's just say I'm gonna lose my Omega composure and torture you until you would give your last breath on this Earth…Got it?" He said, ending with a threatening smile.

I get out from the pond, shooking myself to dry off, saying to him : "Hey, don't worry, man… I won't be ever capable of hurting her…She's so beautiful, and smart, and caring…" My eyes were staring into the deep dark sky, thinking at her…

I was being interrupted by Wilson's laughing session… "Okay man, just saying, I trust you…Then, you definitely need a hand to comb your fur, don't you? Lemme help you with that!"

"Oh, thank you…I would really appreciate that" I saw him grabbing a pinecone and approaching me, while I sat on pond's shore giving my back to him, so he could comb my fur from a better position.

My thoughts were wandering to her, trying to imagine her prepared for tonight…But I thought she could never reach a greater degree of perfection, because in my eyes she was already…Perfect.

**Awwww just some lighthearted sequences, just to interrupt some of that greyness of previous chapters...Huh? You don't like that? Okay, I would anticipate the apocalypse if you want to... :D**

**GRINWOLF HERE... OVER AND OUT!**


	23. Love's Edge

**Hey, Hey, Hey, I'm here again...And NO, for all of you who believed in my premature death, I'm safe and sound (for now...) However, I'm gonna be pretty excited, due to the fact that I'm gonna reach 50k+ words in this story... YAY! *shoot fireworks and uncorks champagne* Anyone wants a glass of champagne? Only for 18+ , though!**

**Anyway, for all my dear readers, Here's the 23rd chapter! I recommend you to have a seat, RELAAAAX and enjoy your reading!**

**And please, don't forget to review, I love YOU!**

**Chapter 23: Love's Edge**

**GRIN's P.O.V.**

Wilson helped me to comb my fur after I got washed in the pond by using a pine comb… In the middle of my combing session, I could hear a faint howling coming from direction in which Humphrey showed me Howling Rock, and I suddenly realized that Moonlight Howling had just begun.

I could feel Wilson gasping from behind me, and he began to comb my fur faster, almost hurting me due to the violence with which he tore knots out of my fur.

"Ouch! Hey, calm down man!" I managed to say him when he caused me an acute pain, removing from my fur a huge knot…Pratically, the hemispheric pinecone's portion facing into my back's fur direction was completely covered from my hair…

Wilson seemed in a sort of trance, focused on his fast combing session, but he seemed to return back at my sudden outburst, saying "Ah, uh? Oh, sorry about that…" Then he smiled to me.

I sighed and replied "Okay…Just be careful, you pratically ripped out half of my fur!" then I pointed to the furry pine cone that he was holding in his mouth, and Wilson, noticing how much fur was on the pine cone, he let it go, and then he said "Okay, man, I think you're ready…Go and take a look in pond's reflection, lover boy" he chuckled after his last remark.

I rolled my eyes and I followed his advice, padding to the pond to see my reflection and…Wow! I looked a completely different wolf!

My mane was perfectly combed, the only exception was a fringe of hair falling on my petrol green eye, making him partially visible, and leaving the brown one uncovered… I could see moonlight sparkling in my eyes, and this seemed to add more charm to my figure…All seasoned with my slender but not too much muscolar shape…A good compromise between strenght and beauty… Then I shook my head a little here and there to see how the hair would move when I turn and how I looked like when I was in profile…

I was snapped back to reality by Wilson, who elbowed me lightly in my shoulder, still chuckling…After a while, he said "Ahah, you're doing the same end of Narcissus, being in love with your self reflection in the water, don't you?" I turned to him, and I pushed him playfully, almost tackling him, saying "Yeah, maybe you're right… Goofy one" I smiled to him while sticking my tongue out, and Wilson couldn't help but keeping laughing all the time.

At one point, he said something that made my head tilt slightly "Well, not all Alphas had a fun side, but you've literally surprised me…Now I know why Maya thought you're so special, and talked about you almost every time…" I could see a slight frown appear on his face, maybe remembering Maya's endless speech about me "…And, since I have known you a little better, I can't do anything but push you in her arms, saying "Hey bro, that chick is yours!" He made then a double gesture with his paws, imitating a double gun and making a wink to me. I couldn't help but chuckle at that move.

It seemed like he was giving me an approval…Saying I was a person appointed to be with, and that she was lucky to have me…

I bowed my head slightly to him in respect, saying "Thank you, I really appreciate tha-" And before I was able to finish my sentence, he literally hug me friendly, taking me slightly aback, saying to me "Hey, no need to thank me, I just said what was right, man… Oh, I think it's time to run!" He said, suddenly pulling back from the hug and starting running into Howling Rock's direction…But at one point he stopped and turned to me, saying "Hey, come on man, I know best comes to last, but it's not cute that girls had to wait too much time…They could always find someone else to go with, you know…"

I suddenly followed him.

**WILSON's P.O.V. Thinking while walking to Howling Rock's base**

"Maya, look what I'm doing for you… I never thought it would have happened…From the first time I ever saw you, I thought we were destined to each other…But, I saw how you were happy when you talked about him…That light in your eyes tells me you everything…The only thing I want is to make and see you happy…Even if that means I have to step aside…

I was on verge of tears thinking that…But I have to hide my true emotions…At least I have to do that for her.

**GRIN's P.O.V.**

Our run has gradually transformed into a jog and then to a fast walk pace…But something was kind of strange to me… During all this time, Wilson didn't utter a single word…From someone so talkative and jovial, it was really weird. So I went just ahead of him and blocked his road, before we would reach Howling Rock's base…I was determined to know what worried him.

"Hey" I turned to him, and I noticed he was staring on the ground while walking, a definitive sign that something was clearly wrong with him. He lifted his chin, looking to me in his eyes, and then reassumed his amusing facade…But this time he's not going to deceive me.

In a concerned tone, I just asked him "Buddy…What's wrong?". He just made a silly face, tilting his head slightly on one side, just pretending nothing, answering with another question to me "Why do you think there's something wrong with me?"

"Come on, do not turn a blind eye, tell me what's wrong…" I could see behind his facade…I could see from his eyes he was hiding something to me…His eyes clearly were trying to hide hints of a somewhat repressed grief…

He shook his head, saying to me "Oh, man, there's nothing wrong with me…Just a little bit worried about the whole thing, you know… I don't know why, Moonlight Howls make me a little jumpy…Maybe it's that what you see…"

I nodded, clearly understanding him…Maybe I was capable of not showing a lot my feelings outwardly, something that maybe he cannot do...

I padded to him and hugged him, saying to him "Hey, you got nothing to be worried about…This would be a time for fun, what will others would say looking at you like this? You're also an Omega, you should be the party spirit!

He nodded and thanked me… Then we finally arrived at Howling Rock's base…I could see figures of at least six wolves, but among them I could not distinguish Maya's… They all turned to see us approaching them, with Wilson leading the way, and one of them blurted out, somewhat irate "Hey, we've been waiting for you for HALF AN HOUR, and that other Maya crazy wolf 's not even WITH YOU…DAMN IT!" He turned his back on us, clearly pissed off.

I glanced a moment to Wilson, who was rolling his eyes in annoyance due to his friend's outburst, whispering to me "You'd better get used to it…He's the polemical member of the group, everything seems to hurt him in some way…Sometimes I just wish claw him to his being such a drama queen…"

Other group members seemed to not be bothered by his recent behaviour (they were evidently accustomed to his actions) and all of them welcomed me with a warm smile, and one of them asked to me a quite rethorical question "So, you're Grin, huh, the new one, am I right?"

I nodded slightly and answered her "Yes, it's me, in meat and fur" I concluded with a smile.

"Well…" another one of the group began to say "I'm getting pretty tired waiting for everyone here…So what are we going to do?" They talked to each other, but something just escaped from my mouth…"Hmmm….Me and Wilson could wait for those who have not arrived yet…And you, guys, you can start to have your fun…What do you say?" After that sentence, laughters and giggling could be hearead from them, and after a brief consultation, they decided to get along with my resolution and one of them spoke to me and Wilson, saying "Ok then…See you up there…And…" He added, with a smile "…Don't have too much…"fun" with her, huh?" He gave me a wink.

My head tilted on a side, wondering why he said that to me… And when I saw all of them beginning to climb the Howling Rock, I turned to Wilson with a mixed expression of embarassment and confusion, asking him "What the heck he meant by that?"

Wilson just turned to me with a huge grin plastered on his mouth, saying to me "Well, you know, the only person missing here's Maya and Pia…And since she came back home, she has not talked about anything else but yourself…Two plus two is always four, buddy…" He elbowed me playfully while snickering.

I began to blush instantly, almost exploding for that explanation… The only thing I managed to say to him was "It-it's so…obvious?"

Taken from my moment of embarassment, I didn't notice two wolf figures approaching us… When one of them stretched one paws on my shoulder, I literally jumped in fear, then I turned to see who it was… Maya and Pia finally had arrived.  
I cannot hide my wagging tail from them… I could hear a giggle coming from both of them and Maya said to her friend"Awww so cute…Is someonehappy to see us, right Pia?" She answered her with nothing but a giggle.

Then Maya looked around to see where others were, but she didn't find anyone else, and asked us with a confounded face "Where all the others are? Shouldn't they already be here?".

Wilson began to explain her, with an annoyed expression and sighing "Well, you know, the drama queen made another of his hoax, due to our delay…" After that explanation, both Pia and Maya both rolled their eyes and sighed at the same moment…Then Wilson added "…And they decided to go to not hearing him anymore…" They both nodded and Pia said "Yeah, Lance could be such a pain in the ass, more than sometimes…"

Then Maya did something that made me blush even more than what Wilson's friend said to me… Maya suddenly pressed against my side…I could feel my face on fire…I could hear her purring a little bit while she pressed her pelt against mine…If I would transform myself into another animal, I would be a crayfish, due to my color…But I cannot hide It felt SO good…

She then watched me and said to me "So…What are we waiting for? Let's go and have some fun!" and then she began to lead the way…

Suddenly Wilson turned to us and said "Eh…Uh…I forgot…" He put a paw over his head and shook off "…I have to do a thing…Uh, sorry, I think I'll partecipate next time…" and then he left without any further explanations…

I was looking at Maya and Pia, but their facial expression showed me only confusion…

**WILSON's P.O.V.**

While I was running, tears streamed down my face… "I'm sorry, Maya, it's just…It's just I can't see you like that…I'm really sorry…"

I reached the cliff of a valley, the one in which our Alpha leaders log-sledded to save the ancient Winston and Tony…The place in which they confessed their love to each other…

Those thoughts couldn't help but add on me more depression… I can't bear that pain… I have to let it out and then… I would quit all of my griefs… All of my sorrow would disappear…

I deeply inhaled air, and I began to howl…What probabily would be my last howl in my life.

**... Well... I told you something was going to happen...Huh? Don't say I didn't warn you...**

**However, STAY TUNED to know how this situation's gonna end...**

**GrinWolf here... Over and Out.**


	24. Resolution

**Hi everyone! It's just me again... I know this chapter wouldn't be too much happy or too much long, but... I tried to concentrate all the feelings I got now into a single shot, trying to not stretch too much the gist... I don't know why, I've got a strange thing that led me to get slighly influenced from events... I would do anything into fixing things, but there are some things that I cannot do...**

**How could we live in a world where a single word could trigger a whole conflict?**

**How it's possible that one's status could affect a whole mass's status?**

**How it's possible that nobody do nothing to improve the situation, but let the situation be like that, for a long time?**

**Maybe it's just the fact I'm too good, I really care about people, maybe too much... I don't really know.**

**After this not-really-so-little outburst, I let you enjoy the 24th chapter. Peace and love.**

**Chapter 24: Resolution**

**WILSON's P.O.V.**

I gave to the world my last howl, filled with bitterness and despair, holding out my muzzle to the white disk that stood out in the sky, faintly illuminating the valley below… Wind rustled steadily in between trees surrounding me, crashing into my fur and messing me up…My tears were carried by the wind, pushing them towards and inexorable fall from the cliff…It was as if even nature also wanted to encourage me to put an end to my sufferings… I finished my howl, and then I began to slowly walk toward, to the cliff, while keeping my wet muzzle up in the air… I wanted to be carried by the hypnotic power to the moon, wanting to being wrapped in a sort of momentary unconsciousness, in such a way as not to feel any pain due the tremendous fall…I wanted the moon acting as a painkiller…To kill both my emotional and physical pain… Slowly I approached the precipice, I soon realized that ground was lacking under my feet…

At this point, nothing seemed to matter me anymore…I let my last words float from my mouth, as I were almost begging to the moon that I was able to fulfill my last desire…"Maya, I love you…I'm gonna protect you wherever I would go, from Heaven or even fighting against demonic hordes in Hell…I'll always be with you…"

…

…

In the moment before I began my descent in the bottom of the valley, I could feel something sharp carving into my scruff, trying to grab me for the scruff… I have not moved, petrified from the impending fate that awaited me…I put aside all my will to live, trying to get comforted by the moon… I didn't say a single word about that…

I was back on dry land, not caring to look at my "saviour"… For me it did not matter who he or she was… He or she didn't have any right to do that…

I was lost in my world now…Words…Thoughts….Emotions floated in it, shuttling between heart and mind, stabbing and tearing into both of them…I could feel tears be about to open a way through my eyes…

Until something shocked me and brought me back to the present…

…A kiss.

My eyes widened to a point that I thought was impossible… I focused my view on the wolf in front of me… My eyes twitched a bit…I cannot believe to what was happening to me…

Well, actually all made sense, now…

**FLASHBACK**

It was a late autumn day…Winter was almost upon, and that would mean only one thing: soon I would be separated from some of my dearest friends, which would leave to begin their training as future Alphas… I could see Pia and Maya were both excited and sad about that at the same time…I couldn't do anything but try to reassure them, embracing both of them with a smile, knowing that they would definitely come back… I was slightly sad, too, due to the fact that we could not spend more time together like the old days… But I have to always show the positive side…What kind of Omega I would be, after all?

I was playing with Burton (he was brawny and powerful even at that age…Every pinning was a crash…), Lance (insupportable as he is now), Maya and Pia.

We were having a little fun, playing tag and running back and forth throughout the forest…But our enjoyment was short lived, due to a recall howling coming from the main ground… It was finally time to part ways…To cope with their fate…

We stopped suddenly our playtime, and quickly we gathered all together to give us a goodbye… I could see Pia and Maya almost on verge of tears…Yeah, I could guess no one likes goodbyes… But seeing my friends in that condition made me grieve…Especially Maya…I wanted to give her anything to see her smile again appear between her lips at least one last time…

So I decided, according to my funny side, to give intentionally one last moment of fun togheter… I pretended to stumble over a medium sized rock… I began to stumble until I almost reached them gathered in the middle of a small clearing, and I almost ended up top of them… Indeed, I involuntarily crashed on Pia, making both of us roll on the grass, until she found herself on top of me, with our muzzles almost connected, others behind our backs… In a fraction of a second, I could feel something wet moisten my muzzle… I…I couldn't believe what she did…She…She licked my muzzle…

Surprise, anxiety, awkwardness, confusion, fright…All these emotions began to make their way in my mind…My face pale and flushed at the same time… I don't really know how to react to that...Sudden action.

I suddenly heard a burst of laughter coming from the rest of my friends in the clearing, and I couldn't help but smile too, knowing that I had succeeded in my attempt… Pia let me stand up, and smiled to me, while others were just focused on laughing

"Well, I observed you before and I know that you did that on purpose… I know what you wanted to do…Take that just as a…Way to thank you…" She then winked and I tilted my head, not really knowing what to say her… So I thanked her silently with a smile, and she smiled me back…

I though all of that as a friendly demonstration of affection, not really knowing that there was something deeper under…

Until now.

**Back to WILSON's P.O.V.**

I found myself staring at Pia, breathless…I could see her eyes still closed, savouring the kiss…I could see tears floating down her cheeks… I never thought she cared about me like that… I had never realized that… What a fool I've been…

While I was thinking, I didn't realize she opened her eyes, and then I felt a sharp pain on the left side of my muzzle, with a force that made me almost move back… And then I realized she clawed me…Her eyes still wrapped in a blanket of tears…But I knew I deserved that…

I cannot help but look down, not having the force to look at her straight in her eyes, due to my previous great foolishness…

"YOU!" Pia said in a quite menacing tone… I don't even know if she had heard what could be considered my last words…

"I know…You love Maya…" She began to say, sighing and sniffing slighlty.I instinctively lowered more my head, almost reaching the ground… "So she heard me" I thought.

She continued speaking "It was not your earlier remark that made me understand that…The ways you looked at her, the ways you acted when she was around you…I couldn't help but be extremely jealous of her for the fact that you devoted so many attentions to her…I wanted to be the object and the subject of your desires…"

But then she lifted my muzzle, making me look into her eyes… And she continued "Please, don't ever do such a thing…Even If you don't accept me in your life, remember at least that there's someone who will love you forever...Wholeheartedly." And she kissed me again, this time more intensely and passionately…

My mind was a mess…A whirlwind of emotions came crushing into it, not sparing anything… I was completely enveloped by doubts…It was really the right thing to do? Had I to take advantage of that opportunity, to live a more decent life? But, above all, could she make me forget once and for all the love that I felt for Maya…

I pulled back from the kiss, and whispered to her…"I'm sorry, It's just…I can't."

Then I turned back and decided to jump.

**GRIN's P.O.V.**

Pia said she would handle that, and she ran after Wilson, with a confident expression, trusting that she would be able to understand what was wrong with him… She said us to not giving that much importance, and to begin having fun without them, stating that they would definitely met them later…

I looked at Maya, asking her what she wanted to do…She thought about that for a couple of seconds and then decided to go and enjoy others at Moonlight Howl…

While we were almost halfway, I noticed that the more we walked closer she was getting more and more to me…I could almost feel her ormolu-like fur brushing mine…

But that moment was abruptly interrupted when we suddenly heard a howl…We looked at each other…We knew well that tonight is going to be a night in which lots of howl will be freed in the air, but… That howl was load of sorrow and hopelessness…And was directly coming from Wilson and Pia's direction…

We began to get worried, and decided to run back, where Pia and Wilson would be…But we arrived in time there to see only the last part: Wilson breaking his kiss with Pia and turned quickly to jump into the cliff.


	25. Obscure Reason

**Hey Hey Hey! I'm back! Do ya miss me? (Don't think so buuuuut however...) I'm gonna tell you a bad new if you like to read my story... From next week I think I'm gonna be able to write almost exclusively on weekends... Yeah, I know it's sad...Or probably you don't care at all...**

**Anyways, I'll let you enjoy my newest chapter... The product of a last taste of freedom... Begin to read it and remember...**

**...If you don't review, I'll be very very sad... **

**SO REVIEW and make me HAPPYZ! :D**

**Chapter 25: Obscure Reason**

**GRIN's P.O.V.**

I arrived just in time to see Wilson leaping, directed towards the void, decided to end his life. I could feel a scream coming from beneath me piercing the quiet spring night…That night could meant everything to me…I could finally tell to the person I cared most in the world my true feelings towards her…I could finally have the opportunity to set at least one thing straight in my whole life, which so far it had only been scourged by miriads of harassments… Few good things popped into my life, you could count them with your fingertips… And Wilson was undoubtedly one of them… So, before I could actually think twice, I rocketed on the jumping Wilson, in attempt to try to stop him from doing that extreme action…

Time seemed to have stopped…Fragments of seconds could be clearly distinguished …Action sequences followed each other, not being able to turn back… I could feel my body being grabbed by gravity's force, dragged downward towards an inexorable fall…I could feel my and Wilson's bodies roll one above the other, in a motion meant to meet a stop in a certain point… I suddenly stopped rolling and I found myself on a small ledge, with half of my body out, and I could see Wilson covering the other edge's half… I could feel a sharp pain coming from my left front paw…I couldn't put weight on it and be able to rise on my feet… I could see Wilson's motionless body standing next to me…I tried to shake him with my still good paw in attempt to wake him, but with no good results… I take a look at the rocky wall that strechted before me, and I thought that without helping each other, we could not survive… He indeed was an Omega, but he looked to be in a better shape than me, so I had to wait for him to wake up… Hoping he would.

So I rested my head on my paws, trying to get as comfortable as possible… I could hear Pia and Maya began to howl, maybe in attempt to call others to help us… Man, that paw hurts like hell!

"Come on, Wilson! Wake up!" I silently thought to myself…As if thinking it could bring it to pass.

I couldn't do nothing but wait for him.

**WILSON's P.O.V.**

I was standing in the darkness. I couldn't see anything…No light source, anything that could make me understand where I was… I sighed and thought  
"So, this is the end, huh?…I never thought it would be so…Dark" I lowered my muzzle, not really knowing what to expect… But honestly, I didn't care about it…

I could feel something wet travelling vertically along my left cheek…My emotions were getting the upper hand on me… I closed my eyes, not wanting to move ever more…I wanted to be swallowed by darkness, become one thing with it…I wanted to annihilate my personality, not wanting to suffer more… Never again.

"Erase who I am…I don't want to be tormented by suffering…" I could hear a voice whisper from somewhere…

I looked around, searching into the darkness the voice's source… But nothing.

I could feel streams of cold sweat impregnate my forehead… That voice sounded so…Frightening.

Whispers and echoes reverberated into the nothingness, they seemed to come each time from a different direction…My head was beginning to spin around, caught up in that whirlpool of voices…My head began to ache terribly, almost giving me the feeling of being able to explode at any moment… I began to scream, while attempting to cover my ears with both my paws

"STOP, please…STOP…STOP!" But they seemed to not cease…Indeed, their intensity seemed to increase more and more…

"PLEASE, I'D DO ANYTHING…JUST, STOP!" I screamed one more time, tears falling from my eyes…Everything seemed to be quiet after my sentence.

"KILL HIM!" A voice thundered from somewhere not far from me.

I looked straight in front of me…I could see some red dots flutter in an uncoordinated manner here and there… Then I got terrified.

I've never saw a thing like that…Even in my nightmares…

I was so scared and terrified that I could not utter a single word…All that I was able to say to that… Monster…was "W-what are YOU?"

"KILL HIM!" He repeated to me more intensely, with his glowing red eyes looming out of the darkness, giving the surrounding area a reddish aura…

I struggled to decipher its words…I did not understand them… I slam eyelids several times, hoping that everything was just a very bad dream…I even pinched and slapped harshly myself several times, but nothing…

Everything I had caused to it it was an evil laugh that made my skin crawl…Chills unraveled down my spine, along the length and breadth of all my body…

I could see that thing staring at me, darkness made his traits not really distinguishable…The only thing I could see were its demonic eyes and the condensation of its breath.

Even more horrified, I swallowed, trying to clear the blockage in my throat…And after a couple of attempts, I finally managed to unstick some words to…that.

"W-what the Hell are you?" I said to it.

It stopped laughing and became serious in the blink of an eye.

"I…AM…" It began to say, but from nowhere appeared a mouth under the red glowing eyes… I could see its mouth getting wider and wider, until it assumed the appearance of a deviated smile…

The thing that shocked me the most is that I could feel a resemblance to someone…But my eyes widened in realization when he concluded its sentence…

"…GRIN."

I didn't understand…The more I get, the more I could not understand…Why?

"WHO SHOULD I KILL? AND WHY?!" I screamed to that thing.

That thing kept his devious smile while answering to me with a voice that would intimidate the devil himself…"KILL GRIN IF YOU DON'T WANNA SUFFER FOR ETERNITY!...WHAT YOU SUFFERED BEFORE IT WOULD BE A CARESS IN COMPARISON TO WHAT I'M GONNA DO WITH YOU!"

I just don't understand…Why should Grin would tell me to kill him?

Maybe that thing became aware of my hesitancy, and kept pushing…

"OH…I JUST FORGOT YOU'RE A PATHETIC OMEGA…BUT DON'T WORRY, THIS WOULD BE A PERFECT CHANCE TO KILL HIM…YOU JUST BLACKED OUT, AND YOU AND GRIN ARE ON A SMALL LEDGE…HE GOT A INJURED PAW, SO EVERYTHING THAT YOU HAVE TO DO IS GIVE HIM A LITTLE…PUSH…"

"Why do you want me to do this? What is your purpose?" I never felt so angry in my entire life…And I was an Omega, a wolf who did not let anger take the upper hand, but this…Just made me feel sick in the stomach.

The monster burst into laughter…"WELL…WHAT A PITY…RIGHT NOW YOU HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO GET A REVENGE…IF I'M NOT MISTAKEN IS DUE TO HIS THAT YOU LOST FOREVER THE SHE-WOLF OF YOUR DREAMS…" And then it ended its speech with a smirk.

I turned my head slowly, not really knowing what to think or what to do… I felt an inner conflict arise inside of me…One part told me I could not make such an atrocity…He did not deserve this treatment, nobody would deserve that…But I could hear another portion growing tremendously in me, nourished by my resentement and my ascending hatred towards…Grin.

How could I have been so blind, to negate the truth so much? He had taken away from me the only creature to whom I would dedicate my entire life… The only one to which I would have sacrificed my own life…But…Apparently the problem was not me…

…The problem was Grin.

He steal my girl.

He's the reason that prompted me to commit suicide.

He…Doesn't deserve to live.

I closed my eyes, not really knowing what was happening to me…I couldn't move…I could feel something began to crawl over my body slowly…I opened my eyes, and I could watch a sticky, fluid pitch black substance began to climb over my body, trying to engulf me… I didn't move a muscle, allowing darkness to take control over me… I could hear the monster's laughter became more and more distant…

I stopped to breathe.

**GRIN's P.O.V.**

In the meantime, I could hear other wolves approaching over me…I could feel their eyes falling upon me…It was a sensation that I liked and hated at the same time…I've never got so many attentions… I tried to stand up again, to verify my paw's conditions...Its pain was terrible…I thought I might have broken it.

I turned my head to take a look to Wilson and shook my head… In all this time I couldn't rest…I used all my time wondering about reason that led Wilson to make a so extreme act…

Now about twenty minutes were gone since our falling and Wilson's fainting…And he didn't seem to recover…

I was almost turning to gaze at the horizon…The moon silhouetted high in the sky, some clouds allowed her to create some particular light effects… I sighed, thinking to have wasted such a perfect occasion…

Then I noticed something moving out the corner of my eye…I turned just in time to see Wilson standing on his paws and getting closer to me (not that the space was big)… A smile began to form on my face, feeling relieved that my friend was all right…But…There was something clearly different in him…In his eyes there was a sparkle I've never seen before… And they were somehow glowing…Red.

He suddenly uncovered a sneer… I looked at him almost in disbelief…

"Time to jump, huh…_Buddy_?" He said to me while keeping that…devilish grin.

He took a short run…Evidently decided to push me down…

For a reason totally unknown to me.

(Productly almost entirely while listening Luv Letter – Dj Okawari) _(I do not own the song, just make you know from which song I get inspiration)_

_Friendships have to be immortal… _

_But enmities have to be mortal._

**Ohhhh...Wilson got possessed...**

**To know how it will end...STAY TUNED!**

GrinWolf here-Over and Out.


	26. Rescue

**Hey Hey Hey Hey Hey! GrinWolf's here again ( and again i'm just saying I'm still alive, so if any of you believed that I was dead or I just abandoned my tale...Is terribly wrong) I'm so sorry about the excessive delay about the production of this chapter, but in this period so many things had happened... Some really pleasurable, others not at all... And I have to deal with university, too, so... I apologize for the delay and I beg you from the deepest part of my heart to forgive me... And hoping you would like this new chapter!**

**Although is not very long, it's quite explicative...**

**No more delay, I promise! Just read, enjoy and lemme know if you like... maybe with a short review!**

**Muchas Gracias, Merçi, Thank you, Grazie, Arigatou, Danke... *sighs* Oh well, you got it! :D**

**Chapter 26: Rescue**

**GRIN's P.O.V.**

I could see Wilson charging at me with a fury I've never seen before…But the thing that terrified me the most is that he had a sort of devilish grin all over his face, as if… He was aware of and pleased by his action.

He was going to push me off the ledge, sending me to an almost certain death… But...Why? He seemed so nice to me, so nice with others…Why would he do something like that… To me?

Right now, there was no time nor stop him nor to seek clarification…I had to act as quickly as possible…Every second was precious, every second could made a difference between my life and an horrible death…

I jumped up a little back, but I completely forgot about my injured paw…And when I applied some pressure on it, I was about to fall disastrously on last portion of the small ledge, yelping in extreme pain… I somehow tried to grit my teeth and to bare the dolour, but unfortunately I did not succeed… So I collapsed in pain on the ground, almost resigning to my death sentence.

When I was collapsing on the ground, I slipped a bit backward, finding myself dangling in the void, the only thing that anchored me to the ledge and to life was my good paw… But I felt I could not resist for long… I looked disperately down, trying to lift myself relying on protruding rocks with my rear legs, but invain… It seems rocks would collapse under my weight…

So I looked up and I could see Wilson stopped his running, almost standing near me motionless, as if in a sort of trance, keeping mumbling something to himself… At a certain point he stopped mumbling and realized that I was looking at him and he directed his gaze to me… Smiling.

He totally seemed a different person.

I decided to make one last attempt to appeal to his common sense… I screamed at him at top of my lungs, trying to shake him from the state in which he was now,

"WILSON, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING? AREN'T WE FRIENDS, HUH? WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME?" I pratically yelled him in face, but he seemed to not be bothered at all… Instead, his smile widened even more.

He lowered his head next to my ear and began to say "Because you…Are the reason why I lost everything… Everything that was worth living… You've burned all…All I've got… And NOW…" He emitted an hysterical psychotic laugh…

I could see a lot of lupine heads standing out over the precipice, as if they were trying to figure out what was happening…

I hoped with all my heart that they understood that there was actually something wrong going on…

My eyes widened to what he said to me… I was the reason of WHAT? I just came here not so long ago… I don't really understand how could I have caused so much damage in his life… I don't really know!

He whispered in my ear "Die, you parasitic plague…And burn in the deepest pit of the Hell."

I could feel almost on the verge of tears… Those words hurted me so much… Although I've met Wilson recently, I could already tell he was going to be one of my closest friends… But why… Why is he saying me all these bad things… What I did to deserve to be treated like this by him?

…It seems that everywhere I go, I can't carry nothing but misfortunes and misery…

Maybe…He's right…

…I should end my pathetic life… Nobody would care about me if I would die…

Everyone's gonna be happier… A life less to worry about…Then I remembered.

Maya. I cannot lose her. She…She had to know what I felt for her.

I howled… I could feel something rising in me…Something I could not control… A pulse coming from inside of me, a pulse that I cannot stop…

A pulse of love.

I was feeling somehow strenghtened… But Wilson was just rising his paw in attempt to crush mine, so as to make me let go the spur of rock to which I was clinging, and make me die…

I don't know why, but I put up my muzzle

I catch a glimpse of a figure approaching us, gliding from above… A massive red wolf came crashing on Wilson, hearing a loud snap coming from his swept body, leaning helplessly under the immense mass of the wolf. The impact was tremendous.

The downard force of the red wolf made Wilson crash on the small ground of the ledge, slamming his head on the bare rock… Knocking him out istantly… But blood began to pour from his cavities, signal perhaps that he didn't fainted… Maybe he died.

I didn't recognize him immediately…But after he raised himself from Wilson's motionless body on the floor, I recognized him: it was Maya's aunt… Garth.

He grabbed me by the scruff and lifted me on the small ledge. He stared at me with a blank espression on his face, not really saying anything…Shooking his head a bit.

I…I was shocked to see the lifeless body of Winston laying there…Unmoving.

He…Although he had that strange behaviour towards me… I cannot help but feel sorry for him… I could feel tears start to flow from my eyes, and I ducked, laying my head on my paws…Sniffing and gently nuzzling his cheek , in a vain hope that he woke up…

…But deeply I knew…That he's gone.

"Why…Why, Wilson? Weren't we friends…Were we? " Bitter tears walked across my cheeks, full of grief and sorrow… I've lost a friend… I've lost… A brother.

I could hear Garth sighs from near me…But after that, he decided to… Hug me.

I was slightly shocked at first…But then I burst into tears, soaking probabily all of his fur. He said to me: "I know, I know… He was a friend of yours, but he was going to hurt you… And I, as one of the Alpha leaders of this pack, I cannot let that happen to anyone… Especially to a good fighter like you…" Then he smiles a bit.

I kept crying in his fur… Everything seemed so surreal. A moment before we played and joked…And now here I am, crying over a dead friend…

We stayed here for ten minutes, keeping wailing in his fur… While he was comforting me…

After that time, I wiped away the tears as best I could, since my paw was hurting like hell… He noticed my momentary difficulty to use my paw and asked me if I injured it.

I answered him back that I probabily broke it while falling from the cliff, in attempt to save Wilson's life…

He nodded and laid down, motioning me something I didn't clearly understand…He kept pointing on his back…

I tilted my head in confusion, asking him "Uhhh…What should I do?"

Garth rolled his eyes and said to me "Kiddo, you have to cling to my back, so I could climb that rocky wall…" He said, pointing to the high rocky wall in front of us.

I frowned a bit, but asked him worriedly: "Are you sure? Isn't dangerous carry me on your back while you're climbing?"

He gave me back a look full of safety and he said " Ha! Do you think that you can stop me? Nothing is able to stop Garth…Nothing! Stop kidding and hurry up and come here, boy!" He suddenly smiles and I nodded, visibly limping toward him.

I leaned on his back, trying to hold me to his neck with my good paw…

He stands up and began to say: "Ok…Now, let's do this!" And he began his search for a foothold to start the climb… Towards the others.


	27. Low Down Showdown

**Well well well... What do we have here again? Or better, WHO do we have here again?**

**Yeah, it's me... Happy? No? Well gotta a few words for you if you're not happy... Contact me in PM :P**

**Anyways, here's chapter 27... Hope you will like what I wrote... *thinking a bit* No... I just come to the conclusion that you HAVE to like my work... **

**Ahah, just kidding... However, please...**

**Read**

**Enjoy **

**AAAAAAAAAAAND**

**Review! (even a single phrase, I don't exact you have to write a 200-words-review... But if u would do that you would make me really proud of myself! :P )**

**Chapter 27: Low Down Showdown**

**GRIN's P.O.V.**

I feel like a crap… I just assisted to the death of a my dear friend… A friend who inexplicably felt a sudden hatred towards me… I just stared to a fixed point on the horizon… I really couldn't do anything else, the weight of what had just happened really overhung me… I felt as if I had lost an important part of my person, irretrievably gone away with him…

I think Garth could feel my being down and depressed while he climbed the rocky wall… If it was he was dragging a lifeless body up the wall, and not a live wolf…

I kept holding on his neck with a paw, almost dangling when he moved deftly and expertly between a foothold to another, in such a way as not to create a kickback that could be fatal for me… I could see with the corner of my eye his gaze looking around for a firm pawhold capable of being able to sustain both our weights… And amazingly he's not missed a shot, always choosing the right way to go up…

Telling the truth, I was a bit scared about this chosen workaround, but I could see that, as we continued to ascent, I was gaining more and more confidence in him…

Thinking about what happened before, I didn't realize we were almost reached our destination, the top of the cliff…

I was suddenly focused on trying to search the words to explain to the mass of onlookers wolves what had happened… But the truth is that even I was not aware of what happened… And especially why it happened.

Tabula rasa. Nothing. I tried to squeeze my brain harder, but the more I tried to squeeze it more I felt my thoughts leaving me, abandoning myself to a sad and lonely destiny…

Finally we get on the solid ground… But before even being able to touch the ground and feel the earthy rock under my good feet, I could feel someone grabbing me for the scruff and pulling me off Garth, throwing me violently to the ground, making me bump the hard ground with my injured paw, wailing loudly for an enormous wave of violent pain and contract achingly to the ground…

Garth didn't have the time to intervene because obviously the climb had nearly exhausted him, and I could hear him panting heavily…

After I recovered a little from the shock of my painful limb, I could see all the wolves standing in the middle, completely surrounded by all the wolves there, and there was one of them standing before me, with its teeth bared threateningly, tears flowing profusely from its eyes, its paws with claws unsheated slaying the soil beneath them in a fit of extreme anger…

Its eyes were begging for a single thing: Revenge… Revenge for something.

I was shocked, stunned, speechless to find that wolf before me, not really knowing the motivation of all this…

I was exhausted, my patience reached the limit… I could not defenitely stand to be groping in the dark… I recollect all my courage and looked at that wolf, almost screaming

"CAN ANYONE EXPLAIN ME WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING THERE…? IT HAS PASSED JUST A SINGLE DAY THAT I'M HERE, AND YET TWO OF YOU WANT TO THREATEN ME…! Have I done something wrong…? Did I miss something…? Please, tell me…"

The wolf standing before me was non other than… Pia. She grabbed me for the scruff and threw me away.

I could see her nose wrinkling even more when I said her these things, and other wolves just confabulating among them…Without anyone intervening to stop all this…Mess.

I could see her narrowing her eyes and groping to clear her throat, perhaps with the intention of speaking…

Maybe finally I could get a valid response to these strange attitudes and treatments…

I turned slighly my head while being lying almost still on the ground, partially unable to move due to my probabily broken paw, to see Maya still crying for Wilson's death… But she was petrified too…Perhaps even she didn't know too why her best friend was behaving in such a way towards me… I could see her ears twitching a bit, as if she wanted to know what she had to say…

Pia then starts to talk.

"YOU… YOU TWO ARE THE MAIN REASONS THAT DROVE HIM TO SUICIDE…! "

A rise of murmurs could be heard from the crowd around us. I was shocked… I already heard these words from Wilson himself, but I still didn't understand why and how I drove him to suicide!

Pia continued, turning his gaze veiled by tears to Maya "DIDN'T YOU NOTICE ANY WILSON'S BEHAVIOUR AROUND YOU, MAYA?"

I looked towards Maya who was staring into nothingness with an incredulous face, thinking to Wilson's behaviours… and she answered back "You know he was my best friend…I know him since we were pup… But why do you ask me this ?"

"BECAUSE YOU WERE SO BLIND AND STUPID TO NOT NOTICE HE LOVED YOU! " Pia thundered, clawing roughly the ground. Silence fell on the group of wolves.

My eyes widened in realization: Wilson secretely loved Maya. I blinked my eyes several times, as if everything was just the worst nightmare i've ever had in my life.

I tried to speech some words to Pia… "B-but… W-why didn't he told me… Anything?

In that moment, the Alpha Leader couple, Kate and Humphrey, reached the site of the debate, and Pia shouted me back in extreme rage.

"BECAUSE HE SAW MAYA'S EXPRESSION WHEN SHE TALKED ABOUT YOU, GRIN… SHE HAS AN EXPRESSION OF PURE HAPPINESS AND CONTENTMENT… SOMETHING THAT ONLY LOVE BRINGS… AND HE SWORE TO HIMSELF THAT HE WOULD HAVE DONE ANYTHING TO MAKE YOU HAPPY… EVEN STEP ASIDE TO ALLOW YOU TO REACH HAPPINESS AND LOVE… BUT HE CANNOT BEAR SEEING YOU TWO TOGETHER… SEEING THE ONLY WOLF HE LOVED MORE THAN HIMSELF WITH ANOTHER WOLF…!"

How have I been so blind to not notice that all his protectiveness toward Maya wasn't only an expression of brotherly love… But something more…? Why didn't he tell me about his crush towards Maya…?

I could hear some gasping sounds coming from behind me… I turned to see Humphrey and Kate standing and looking towards me with a confused and surprised face… I turned slighly my head to see Maya blushing madly, because now everyone knows about her feelings about me.

Man… I mean I didn't have a chance to stay with her that her parents knew about our mutual feelings… That was terrible… Surely I'm going to have to deal with this awkward situation… But not now…

I have to do something more important…I have to regain Pia's trust, in a way or another…

I looked in her eyes, with a distressed but sincere look, and I start talking.

"Pia, I'm so sorry… I never wanted this end like this… I never wanted him to try to kill himself, nor being killed because he tried to kill me…If I had known, we could have solved this thing in a totally different way… I feel so guilty about this…"

I lowered my muzzle in shame, but I got from her a reaction I never suspected she would have… She growled even louder and she ended her speech, saying:

"EXACTLY… IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT IF WILSON… THE WOLF I LOVE… DIED…" and she smiled evilly saying the last part "…AND I WOULD HAVE BEEN REALLY HAPPY IF HE WOULD HAVE KILLED YOU… BUT DON'T WORRY, I'M GONNA FINISH THE WORK HE STARTED…"

The crowd let out a collective gasp, shocked by the reaction of the young she-wolf… But one wolf knew very well the position that it have to take between the two parties…

Maya stepped before me… A helpless and hurt wolf… Hurt both physically and mentally… She stepped to defend me… She assumed a protective stance, slightly baring her teeth towards her bestfriend… I could see Kate and Humphrey's faces completely astonished… They've never seen her daughter being so determined… They should guess that I really mean something to her…

But while I was looking at them, I was surmounted by a giant shadow of a wolf that interposed itself in between me and the menacing she-wolf… I looked at it and I could see Garth, with all his massive build, nodding to me, nuzzling his niece and saying "Well done, Maya… You've just proved me you really got guts… Fighting for someone you care about is one of the most pure and noble gestures you can do for him… I'm really impressed…" He turned to face a bit scared Pia, saying to her "…And, after all, I just sweated like a mule to save him, and now you're just menacing him to kill him…! I cannot let you do that, young lady. " And he put himself in a defense stance, too…

Then other three wolves advanced to protect me… Kate, Humphrey and Oya, and she said: "I cannot let you hurt… my and Valen's son… I would not ever forgive myself for that!" Her eyes twitched a bit in wrath…

I cannot help but…Being grateful. Grateful for the fact that someone cares about me… And is willing to fight for me… I felt so happy that I was almost on the verge of tears…

I could see other wolves around me whispering something to each others…

Humphrey coughs and looks to Kate and Garth, and begins to talk solemnly:

"Well, I think that implicitly a decision has been taken by us, the Leader of the United Pack… We judged all the acts we see in front of us… And we decided to judge Grin not guilty for the consequences that have occurred… But about you…" He turned his gaze to Pia, that was becoming more and more frightened and losing all of her violent swagger

"You…Close friend of my daughter… Never suspected you could show such malice and desire to kill… A member of the pack… A brother… A friend…" He turned his glance to Garth, who nodded and continue his speech "You know rules of Pack's Ancients… "Every wolf who attempts to kill one of his/her brothers must be expelled from the community… And if it does not cooperate peaceably, it must be turned away with the force… And if it still resists… Be sentenced to… Death. So… Last choice is yours, young lady."

Wolves fell silent… Some of them did not agree to this decision, other ones instead agreed… But they knew they have to respect Alpha Leader's decisions, and they ordered Pia to leave… To never coming back here again.

I could see Pia start back slowly… Tears in her eyes… She then turned to me and said: "You're gonna pay for all this… I swear…" And she began to run into a random direction, determined to run away from that place…

I closed my eyes, sighing in bitterness, but soon I was knocked and pinned down by a ball of ormolu-like fur, and I could feel starts crying into my fur… I pulled her close to me and whispered in her ear…

"Maya…I love you…" and I could feel each single eye of the present wolves fall upon us…

Maya's tail began to wag furiously and she raised her muzzle, looking at me with her light cerulean eyes…

"I-i… Love you too… Grin" She said back, smiling to me… With a smile that could melt the coldest and darkest of hearts.

In that moment… I swear I was the happiest wolf in the entire Universe.


	28. Calm Before The Thunderstorm

**Chapter 28: Calm Before The Thunderstorm**

**Hey'all! Did u miss me...? **

**This time I posted all the important stuff down there, in the last part of the chapter... And not at the beginning... So you have to read it all! :P**

Days that followed that one were filled by a mixture of events who shook the souls of all the wolves in the United Pack…

Luckily, it seemed that the wound I got the day before was not as bad as I thought... It turned out to be only a bad sprain...maybe I just put my paw wrongly during the fall... And Kate gently offered to aid me, and wrapped my paw in a tight bandage, made of some type of healing herb adhering to my skin held together by some sticky vines, that ensured adherence but at the same time a discrete freedom to move...

I started to really doubt that my presence was well accepted, as the days were continuing… Sometimes I had got the feeling of being pierced by a look of malevolence… Almost making me come back to mind my swinging childhood… Filled with experiences that undoubtedly had indelibly stained my soul… But now I have finally something I've never had so far: someone to love.

The day after all these things happened was spent sending a team of wolves, leaded by Garth, trying to recuperate Wilson's body… Although he menaced to kill someone, behaviour that seemed strange to many and did nothing but accentuate the diffidence towards me… Indeed he was regarded as one of the most peaceful and perky Omegas of the pack, maybe second only to Humphrey… He could easily aspire to the role of Omega leader of the pack… And now he couldn't anymore… He couldn't do anything else…

The day mirrored perfectly what types of emotions could be tested on that day… Huge masses of dark grey clouds obscured the sun, a light rain was mixing with the bitter tears, present in almost everywolf's face… Having lost such a promising young member of the pack is really appalling…

I was there, sitting on my haunches, looking at the action of body's recovery, while supporting Maya, who was leaning against me, in the best way I could, letting her cry into my shoulder…

I couldn't bear to see her like that, but I know there was nothing I could do to make her feel better if not giving her my complete support…

I cannot help but feel bad too… After all, I am the cause Wilson committed all this, and the reason why he was killed…

I turned my head around to see other wolves waiting for Wilson's body to be brought up, also wrapped in a welter of tears… And that did nothing but add on me more sense of guilt…

Finally after what it seemed an eternity, I could see Garth emerge from the void of the precipice, bringing on his back Wilson's corpse…

And there he was. His head was hanging pale, lifeless, his tongue hanging out… His body a bit mashed in some points, due to the tremendous impact he suffered the night before, due to Garth's bulk…

Watching him in that condition gave me the definitive coup of grace… I could feel tears copiously being produced by my eyes, blurring my view almost istantly… And I was glad that it was happening, because the more I saw Wilson's battered body, the more I felt bad…

After a few minutes spent to let Garth regain his breath and rest after his effort to bring the body up, begins the funeral march.

His dead body was placed on a log and trailed by Garth, Hutch and Can-do.

Air was filled with an extreme silence during all the march to get to the cemeterial burial area, the only sound that could be heard was the slight but continuous fall of rain on the ground, along with some sniffing sounds coming from the funeral cortege…

Almost all the wolves marched with their head almost hung down, not being able to look directly towards.. Him. I was certainly one of them… Not able to to look such a mess before my eyes.

We walked for what seemed a mile or so , all gathered behind the tree log in a compact row, in order to follow him in all respect during last times we're going to have him here…

Weather was starting to worsen minute after minute, as if it would knows that world was very unfair and it would partecipate too weeping for this terrible loss… A strong wind agitated furs of these presents… Rolling leaves could be seen being carried by that strong wind, not undergoing the effect of rain… I stopped a second, looking at them…

_It was like a metaphore of life… Just going on, carried by the wind, while the rain represented all the sufferings faced so far and we should continue to face… _

_The wind could assume a double meaning: It could be both negative and positive… The positive it could be linked to the fact that wind would be the force that could sustain you during all of your life, whether it could be friendship, it could be family, it could be love… It depends from wolf to wolf…_

_The negative meaning could be deduced if you address the wind like the life forces that push you through all life's agonies, with no ways out… Pestered by a rain of bad events that can make you doubt if existence is a mere chimera, devoted entirely to pain, or if our actions always determine happiness or unhappiness to whoever is around us…_

_Only hoping that we are strong enough to face these adversities…Otherwise, we could finish dragged in a downward spiral… Without any escape._

We could begin to glimpse a plain rich of a darkened earth, as if it had been excavated and dug out several times… And rain certainly helped to make that land even darker…

We should be near to the sepolture area… Where we could give a final farewell to our pack member…

We stopped in a area near a freshly dug hole… Evidently the tomb that would house his body… Forever.

I could see Garth, Hutch and Can-do slowly and cautiously lifting his body and gently laying it in the hole…

Garth then nodded to the group of wolves , as a signal that we can get closer…

Area surrounding the burial area was rich of multiple and beatiful flowers… So I had an idea…

I grabbed with my teeth a flower… It was a light purple Wisteria… I turned and I directed towards Wilson's open grave and I gently deposited the flower, putting it on his chest…

A frown of deep displeasure crossed my face… I hung my head down, not knowing really what to say… "I-i'm sorry, Wilson…" I could feel someone nudging my muzzle, and I found out that it was Maya… And she got a flower too in his muzzle… A yellow Rose… On which could be seen residues of her tears… I slowly turned my head to see all the wolves standing there in a line, everyone with a flower hanging in their muzzle, also ready to pay a last homage to the young wolf…

After that all wolves posed their flowers on the body, he was entirely covered by them… Only a small part of his muzzle could be seen popping out from that sea of flowers…

Garth sat in a spot near the hole, in direction of Wilson's head , turned his muzzle in the air and gave a slow but long and mournful gathering howl… Sign that the funeral ceremony was about to begin.

About thirty seconds later, Humphrey and Kate could be seen running across the land in order to reach the place… They were surely busy with some matters, but a funeral ceremony needed of all Alpha Leaders to be completed… So it was their duty to be there.

After that Kate and Humphrey sat near Garth, they looked at each other and Garth began to speak, while we arranged in a semicircle around Wilson:

"Dear brothers and sisters…" Garth began his speech "…Today we are gathered here to say goodbye one last time to a young member of our pack… One that has never been shown to feel resentment and anger toward his fellow… Until yesterday. Love and jealousy brought you to your downfall… I wouldn't have done that action, I'm really sorry… But just basing on the way you were acting, I thought that I had to act quickly to prevent the worst…" and he concluded hanging his head down.

Then he raised his head a bit, continuing his speech "Although you ended like this, you will always remembered for your kindness and your capacity to be loved by everybody… May your eternal rest be spent in peace…And we are all going to pray for you to be… Farewell."

He raised his muzzle in the air and began to howl in sadness… And soon was accompanied with everybody else's, filling the air with a complain towards life's unfairness…

After five minutes of weeping, we all greeted him one last time, and some of his friends, including Maya, made some speeches about him, and almost all of them ended up in a desperate cry.

During Maya's speech, we could hear a faint howling sound coming from somewhere far away and she suddenly stopped her speech… She twitched her ears and recognized that howl as Pia's… Probabily she's weeping for her love, too…

**PIA's P.O.V.**

"H-how could they do t-this to me?!" I said, while I sink my claws into a tree's bark, slowly scratching downward, producing a nasty sound… My tears have not stopped yet since I left the pack… Well, since they EXILED me…

"I swear on myself I will get my revenge… Nothing is gonna stop me from claim my and Wilson's honor… Nothing's gonna stop to make them PAY, from first to last, for what they did to me… And to what they did to... My love…!"

I heard some bushes rustle from behind me, and I heard a old, twist, sick voice, saying:

"_Come with me… Honey, and you'll get your… Revenge."_

I was slightly shocked but… I didn't have anymore a place to stay… What could be worse than that?

Got nothing more to live for… I live only for… REVENGE.

I began to follow the voice… without any hesitation.

**This is the end of the first part of this FanFiction about Grin… Unfortunately I'm not going to start the second part of it soon, due to my impending university's exams' session… But don't be frightened, I won't let this fiction fall by the wayside… Just going to stop it for a while.**

**However, let's just focus on what you are (probabily) going to discover on the sequel:**

**-Where Valen and Oya's children are?**

**-What is going to happen to Runt and Claudette? Did they finally catch up and managed to clear their debate?**

**-Who that other Humphrey is, and why does Ethel want to help him?**

**-Is Pia gonna fulfill her revenge?**

**-Is Runt, while searching for his sister, gonna find her beloved aunt Lilly, who disappeared in a pool of blood?**

**-Who does the voice belong to…?**

**Sorry, but you have to wait a bit to know the answers to this and to more of your questions…**

**And sincerely I want to thank you for your support in this first part of my marvelous adventure in the world of writing here on FanFiction… Hoping I didn't bore you too much and I hope you are going to show me the same enthusiasm in the next part of this story…**

**...THANK YOU!**


	29. Shattered Fragment of Eternal Love

***sighs* Hello, my fellows... That's an isolated chapter that has nothing to do with the rest of the story... I-i wanted to give a small space to a very important person for me... **

**A person that probabily I'm never gonna see or hear again in my whole life.**

**Shattered Fragment Of A Eternal Love**

And here I am…

Five days passed since I had the last occasion to greet you… With this pang of repentance that eternally torments me, becoming more intense with the rest of the days… Curled on my bed, my sight constantly on mobile phone's black screen, hoping to hear only a single sound… A sound that could make me rediscover my lost smile… I never wanted it would ended up this way… Maybe I've been too selfish, or maybe too stupid for having made that action… And probabily you're just paying its consequences… I even read all our messages, remembering all the time shared together… Remembering, although it was a little time we were together, it was filled by unique emotions… Even a smile, a gesture, a simple nod would have meant everything to me… We went through impossible events, events that were menacing our togetherness… But they didn't, instead they confirmed and strenghtened what was between us… Until now.

I keep playing and playing one of your favourite songs…Although it is not too much sad, it makes me like that, because it remembers me of you… And cannot help but feel damnly bad but happy at the same time, bringing me a bittersweet grin on my face…

"Love gives, love takes"… No sentence would be more appropriate in this case… Two hearts separated from thousands of miles of oceans, mountains and plains, belonging to two different cultures and…Yet so in tune with each other…

What I thought is coming to be real: I'm never destined to achieve happiness in my life… No money, no gold, no diamonds would give me that… I just reached my complete happiness being with you… The other half of me.

Nothing, as I said you millions of times, would make me more happy than stay with you.

You mean the world to me…

I feel lost without you…

I'm gonna wait here for you until the end of times…

...If it's necessary…

…Hoping you can read this…

**…Because I love you, Z.**

***A tear escapes from my eyes, raises my muzzle and howls to the moon***

**# 04/28/2014**

How could I take care about myself when I couldn't take care about you...? The other part of me...? And you don't have to be sorry... You didn't anything... It's my fault if the case... I've done a action that surely led you to lose... Your way to interface with others... Your friends... Your brothers... Your family...

I SHOULD BE ASHAMED I DID THIS TO YOU.

And I know you would never leave me, as well as you will always be in my thoughts...

Really hoping to hear you again... Soon.

**# 04/30/2014**

I'm ALWAYS here for you, no matter what... Isn't that what I always told to you...? And, as you know well, i'm the type of person who keeps his promises... And, about the pack, I can tell that brotherhood is slowly fading away... There's not anymore the previous urge that led me to write on the forum... Really, without you it really seems a wasteland...

And I can't live my life at my fullest, cause It misses the most important part of it... You.

We're looking forward with great anticipation for your return... Really can't wait for more... Hope to see you soon... :)

And... Try to listen to Everything - Lifehouse... To have a hint of my true feelings... Towards you.


End file.
